Evaluating Internal Controls

Participants will examine, from a state and local government perspective, each of the essential components of a comprehensive framework of internal control, along with the accompanying principles and points of focus identified in the Council of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) most recent version of Internal Control - Integrated Framework. The public-sector manager’s role in fraud prevention and detection also will be discussed. This course combines lecture, discussion, and exercises.

Who Will Benefit: Those with an interest in the design, maintenance, and evaluation of comprehensive internal controls

• Those who successfully complete this seminar should be able to:
• Define internal control and explain how it relates to basic managerial objectives;
• Identify the respective responsibilities of management, the governing body, external auditors, and internal auditors in regard to internal control;
• Identify the five essential components of a comprehensive framework of internal control;
• Identify the seventeen principles associated with those five essential components;
• Identify the key points of focus related to each principle;
• Describe the inherent limitations of internal control;
• Describe the relationship between internal control and enterprise risk management;
• Describe the relationship between internal control and fraud; and
• Describe how fraud can be identified and how identified fraud should be managed.