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Accounting Policies Manuals for Internal Control and Improvement
Question of the month: How can Accounting Policies and Procedures help your organization?
The Accounting Department is an area where policies and procedures are usually a requirement, because they are considered part of the internal controls noted in Sarbanes-Oxley. The real question is: What approach are you taking to developing accounting policies and procedures? Are you just doing the minimum, or are you developing accounting policies and procedures in a way that will truly help your organization?
What Should be in Your Accounting Manual?
Most accounting manuals are just a set of procedures. But an accounting manual can play a bigger role in defining the operations of the accounting department. For example, the accounting manual should list responsibilities and describe accounting processes.
Read more about what your Accounting Manual should include…
Are Your Accounting Policies Providing Internal Control?
What is the difference between a well-conceived and well-written accounting policy and a poorly conceived and poorly written accounting policy? Of course, the needs of every organization are different, and the most important element of an accounting policy is that it helps the organization.
Read more about Accounting Policies and Internal Control…
Are Your Accounting Procedures Driving Improvement and Internal Control?
We know from COSO and Sarbanes Oxley compliance that accounting procedures are an important element of internal control. Organizations spend a lot of effort to produce an accounting manual containing accounting policies and procedures. So, if you are going to produce an accounting manual with accounting policies and accounting procedures, how can you make the most of the effort you put into them?
Read more about how Accounting Procedures drive improvement and Internal Control
On That Note:
Answer to this month’s question:
Rule-based “ballistic” procedures may meet the basic requirements for internal control. However, if you must take the time and effort to develop and maintain accounting policies and accounting procedures, why not make the small additional effort to build continual improvement into your accounting processes. Incorporate measurement and review into the accounting processes in order to see if important organization goals are being met. While some might see internal control as a set of rules, real control is awareness of how well accounting processes are operating and what improvements need to be made to meet goals and objectives.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. Also, please let us know if you’d like any specific topic addressed in our future articles.
Regards,
Chris
Bizmanualz
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