What Are Internal Controls and Why Are They Important

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WHAT ARE INTERNAL CONTROLS AND WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT? Tabitha Walton Jones AC 201 Accounting Principles I Professor Eddy September 7, 2011 Abstract Every business should be concerned with internal controls. This system is designated to help protect the company’s assets so that it does not suffer any unusual losses. Internal controls are key to any business’s financial and business policies. According to the Internal Audit from Kansas State University, internal controls consists of all the measures taken by the organization for the purpose of; (1) protecting its resources against waste, fraud, and inefficiency; (2) ensuring accuracy and reliability in accounting and operating data; (3) securing compliance with policies of the organization; and (4) evaluating the level of performance in all organizational units of the organization. This paper will define internal controls, explain why internal controls are important, and explain what can happen when internal controls are not present. What are Internal Controls and why are they important? As defined by Internal Controls: Internal Audit: Indiana University, internal controls are the methods employed to help ensure the achievement of an objective. These are the tools that are used by managers of a business. This method is used to make sure that the business operates according to plan. In Needles (p. 265), internal controls are defined as management’s responsibility to establish an environment, accounting system, and control procedure that will protect the company’s assets. Internal controls can be classified as either detective or preventive. Preventive controls are used to prevent and/or minimize errors or irregularities. An example of that is the spell check feature on Microsoft Word, which prevents a misspelled word from being presented in a document. Detective controls are used to help

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