Has your management team asked the following four questions about your organization’s internal controls?

1) Have we identified the meaningful risks to our objectives?

2) Which controls are “key controls” that will best support a conclusion regarding the effectiveness of internal control in a particular process?

3) What information will be persuasive in assessing whether the controls are continuing to operate effectively?

4) Are we presently performing effective monitoring that is not unnecessary and costly testing?

These questions appear in a white paper, “Effective Internal Control Systems for Rapidly Changing Markets: A New Opportunity,” packed with answers for GRC professionals wondering if there is a better way to operate.

The paper, authored by the GRC experts at advisory firm SMART Group, clearly lays out how controls monitoring processes can and should align with the “Guidance on Monitoring” COSO published earlier this year to help organizations strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of their internal controls frameworks.

Among other useful how-to information, the 12-page paper includes a five-step “Implementation Guide” for creating a better controls-monitoring program. ###