There are many different types of governments, but all of them share certain basic objectives: effectiveness, efficiency, safeguarding of assets, reliable reporting, and compliance. Internal control provides reasonable assurance that a government is, in fact, meeting all of those objectives. An Elected Official’s Guide: Internal Control is specifically designed to offer non-specialists - be they members of the governing board, staff members without accounting or auditing expertise, or ordinary citizens - the information they need to understand what internal control is, how it operates, and who is responsible.

The text of this publication, written in an easily understandable question-and-answer format, reflects the most recent authoritative guidance on internal control set forth in the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations’ (COSO) revised and expanded version of its classic Internal Control - Integrated Framework (COSO Report), released in 2013.

Publication

An Elected Official's Guide: Internal Control