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The Purpose of Internal Controls

Internal controls are actions taken to help ensure that the right things happen and the wrong things don't.

Internal Controls:

• promote orderly, economical, efficient, and effective operations;
• help to produce quality products and services consistent with the organization's mission;
• safeguard resources against loss resulting from waste, abuse, mismanagement, errors, and fraud;
• promote adherence to laws, regulations, and management directives;
• help to develop and maintain reliable financial and management data, and accurately present that data in timely reports;
• impact every aspect of an organization - all of its people, processes and physical structures;
• are woven into the day-to-day responsibilities of managers and their staff;
• provide a level of assurance to an organization, but do not guarantee success;
• are dependent upon people and will succeed or fail depending on the attention people give them;
• must make sense within each organization's unique operating environment;
• help an organization achieve its mission.