Accounting Procedures Handbook

4 INTERNAL CONTROL IV. RESPONSIBILITY FOR INTERNAL CONTROL A. Board Oversight: The Board has primary oversight responsibility for internal control. B. Management Design / Implementation / Maintenance: Management is responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of effective internal controls as well as ongoing monitoring of such controls from an internal organizational perspective, through the delegated authority of the Board. C. Independent Assurance Activities Monitoring: Other internal and external (e.g. internal audit, external audit, etc.) independent assurance activities provide additional monitoring of related controls to complement management’s own self-monitoring activities. D. All Personnel Shared Responsibility: There is a shared responsibility as well as defined accountabilities for internal control across the organization. All personnel share in the responsibility for ensuring internal controls are operating effectively and reporting observed violations of prescribed internal controls (including fraud or potential fraud), as appropriate, to management, senior management and /or the Board. V. CORE INTERNAL CONTROL CONCEPTS AND ELEMENTS The following list represents a selection of core internal control concepts / elements which should generally be present within an organization’s overall internal control system: A. Security (Physical and Information Systems/ Technology) First line of defense in an internal control system. B. Joint Custody Requires at least two authorized individuals to maintain custody / gain access to cash, unissued check supplies, etc. C. Segregation of Duties Limits/ restricts the ability of one individual to have access to, authority over, etc. potentially conflicting functional responsibilities, processes, systems, etc. D. Dual Control At the transaction level, requires at least two authorized individuals to be involved to process a transaction e.g. one person to initiate and at least one other person to review/ verify / approve, etc. E. Approvals / Authorizations Requires only authorized individuals to approve / authorize transactions in accordance with WCBOE policies / guidelines.