Workshop on Internal Controls: the COSO Framework

Successful companies achieve results by formulating and executing effective internal controls. Such a control system provides reasonable assurance that the company is focused on achieving its strategic, operational and financial goals, complying with legal and regulatory demands, and properly achieving reliable financial reporting.

It is true that different professionals define internal control in different ways. However, in 1992, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) came up with a landmark report called "Internal Control – Integrated Framework." As the title suggests, this framework discusses and tackles internal control and its components as an integrated whole allowing companies to view and assess controls from varying perspectives.

Subsequently, the 2000s marked the business world with a tsunami of accounting shenanigans or scandals. Such events ushered in a renewed concern towards corporate governance, risk management and better controls. In particular, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in 2002, imposed strict internal controls and reporting thereon on the part of covered companies.

The afore-mentioned background indicates the necessity of learning how to formulate and assess operational controls, compliance responsibilities and processes, financial reporting directives and the actions to take in order to fortify possible vulnerabilities in existing controls. Thus, there is an ever-growing need on the part of accountants, auditors, managers, and other corporate executives to sharpen their knowledge and skills that could serve as launch-pads for the achievement of corporate objectives, come up with reliable financial reports, and comply with laws and regulations. This seminar-training hopes to provide participants with a working knowledge of the COSO internal control principles and procedures and to enhance their skills pertaining to the formulation of a sound internal control system.