Internal Controls for Better Compliance
Internal Controls are Critical to Maintaining Financial Compliance Programs
Organizations are tasked with providing proper risk prevention practices and effective internal controls for operations, finance, HR, strategy, and legal to ensure all corporate compliance obligations are met. To greatly improve organizational compliance from the front line to the executive ranks, internal controls should be standardized and automated with workflow management systems.
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Ultimately, strong internal controls provide:
- Compliance with organizational policies
- Compliance with laws and regulations
- Protection against waste, fraud, and inefficiency
- Reduced organizational risk
- Reporting accuracy and consistency across business units and departments
- Documented evidence of compliance or non-compliance for internal audit
- Management controls
Any time there is an opportunity to make procedures more compliant using workflow automation systems, they should be considered. In many cases, simply applying a workflow system to an existing procedure drastically increases the likelihood of those procedures being compliant. We'll cover how this occurs in a later section. In addition, auditing capabilities ensure that all activities are documented and time-stamped with who, what, when and why.
What is an Internal Control?
An internal control is a process for consistently meeting organizational goals for operational effectiveness and efficiency, accurate reporting, and compliance with laws, regulations and policies. While often referred to in a financial setting, internal controls are used across all areas within an organization from finance to IT to marketing.
Internal controls can be built around any procedures that present potential financial risk like capital expenditure approvals, hiring, quarterly financial report development, sales discount approvals, etc.
Internal Control Mechanisms
There are several internal control mechanisms that need to be in place to detect, prevent, and correct compliance issues:
- Published Standards and Policies
- Documented Procedures
- Training
- Monitoring
- Internal audit
How Workflow Automation Enables Internal Controls
Companies often employ workflow automation to provide a framework for processes in need of internal controls. Workflow automation provides consistent control procedures, checkpoints, approvals, and structure that force process users to comply with established rules. As a process user moves through a process, internal controls govern the information provided, when a process can proceed (if requirements are met), when a part of a process requires review, etc. The process works the same for everyone, ensuring consistency.
Looking for Ways to Improve Your Internal Controls?
We have a variety of resources to help you on your journey to an automated workflow.
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