Tag: internal controls

Automating internal controls

Modernizing Compliance: How AI and Automation Are Reshaping Internal Controls

In today’s fast-paced business environment, regulatory compliance has become both more critical and more complex. Organizations are expected to maintain rigorous internal controls, ensure transparency, and respond swiftly to audits all while managing sprawling IT ecosystems and evolving risk landscapes. Regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) demand companies adhere to Read More

Control Without Culture Is Just Compliance Theater

GUEST BLOG POST In many organizations compliance is treated like a seasonal performance, where everything is polished just in time for the audit. Controls are executed, evidence is gathered, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed to the letter, but only because someone is watching. Once the audit concludes, attention fades, Read More

Entity Level Controls

The Critical Role of Entity-Level Controls in SOX Compliance

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) redefined corporate accountability by mandating transparency and oversight in financial reporting. Evaluating internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) is at the core of SOX compliance, particularly Section 404. Entity-level controls (ELCs) are core to this: enterprise-wide mechanisms that influence governance, risk management, ethics, and Read More

Guarding assets with simple controls

The Importance of Basic, Yet Effective, Internal Controls

Last August, Northern Marine Management India, a shipping company located in Powai, a suburb of Mumbai, India, discovered that it has been the victim of a bold heist. The company kept gold coins that it used to honor employees at their retirements. Depending on their years of service, retiring employees Read More

Are internal auditors missing the boat?

Are Internal Auditors Missing the Boat on What’s Most Important?

GUEST BLOG POST As internal auditors, we provide assurance, advice, and insight on the system of internal controls over the more significant risks to enterprise objectives. Internal controls provide the basis, the foundation, on which management and the board rely as they manage and direct the organization to success. The Read More

Digitization and internla controls

Report Finds Digital Transformation Putting a Strain on Internal Controls

A new study finds that rapid transformation to the digital economy is putting a strain on control systems within organizations. The speed and intensity of changes, brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid shifts in the economy, have disrupted staffing and increased the adoption of advanced technology, which has impacted Read More

phishing attacks

Study: Companies Are Bolstering Internal Controls to Combat Cyber Fraud

A new study finds that organizations are reporting increases in cyber fraud and phishing scams due to rapidly changing work practices as a result of the pandemic. It also found that companies are improving internal controls and providing new resources to internal audit to fight such fraud and they are Read More

Don’t Neglect Account Reconciliation and Analysis in Audits

GUEST BLOG Account reconciliations and analyses are often misunderstood and thought of as routine, low level activities which add little value. On the contrary, they are important activities in the financial closing process. Indeed, reconciliations are a key internal control activity and are instrumental in identifying accounting errors and omissions, Read More