Establishing Internal Controls For Your Business

Looking to establish internal controls for your business but unsure of how to go about it? Heard about what they are and their benefits but not sure on how to put them in place? You may already have internal controls and policies for your business without even knowing it!

Internal controls, in a nutshell, are the rules and policies put into place by a business to help it function smoothly. It protects businesses from fraud, promotes employee accountability, and improves the flow of information across the entire business.

While there are many controls a business could hypothetically put in place, the two most basic and widely used are preventative and detective controls. Preventative controls are self-explanatory; they are controls that aim to prevent issues from occurring. This can encompass a lot of possible scenarios within a business. Some examples include:

• Making sure the right employees have access to sensitive information

• Seperating tasks across employees to promote efficiency and eliminate possible bias

Detective controls aim to locate any issues in case preventative controls are insufficient for a certain scenario. This type of control mainly focuses on checking over work already done, to make sure information is being presented accurately. Examples of this include:

• Comparing different sets of data, making sure that all of them match up with one another and that there are no discrepencies

• Assigning a different set of employees to review and verify work that is being completed

Ultimately, both of these controls can be beneficial and save a lot of time, increasing efficiency for a business as a whole. If you or someone you know needs assistance developing internal controls for your business, we would be happy to help!