INTERNAL CONTROL SERVICES

WHAT IS INTERNAL CONTROL?

Internal controls system can be defined as a set of rules, policies, procedures, and implementations that an organization implements and adopts in order to provide direction, increase efficiency in the organization and also strengthen employees adherence to policies in the organization. It is a top priority for a business owner to have effective internal control measures in place to ensure effective corporate governance.

When a business grows and expands overtime, there is always more robust and sophisticated demands which may require the company to necessarily update their systems and processes in order to address associated business risk factors caused by inadequate internal controls.

A business organization, whether small, medium or large, can enjoy the benefits of adopting an internal control system. Internal control components includes the following

CONTROL ENVIRONMENT

The control environment deals with setting the tone for an organization. This includes the integrity, ethical values and the competence of the organization’s staffs, the management philosophy and its operating style, the way the management assigns authority and responsibility as well as the organization and development of its people. It consists of the following principles:

• Commitment to integrity, ethical values, and behaviour of key executives
• The company maintains appropriate corporate governance and oversight
• The company creates an appropriate organizational structure and ensures assignment of authority and responsibility
• Management demonstrates a commitment to competence
• Accountability is established and enforced

RISK ASSESSMENT

Risk assessment deals with the identification and the analysis of the various risks that can pose as stumbling blocks to the achievement of the objectives of the organization. This deals with creating and adopting a basis for which risks will be managed by the company.  It consists of the following principles:

• Appropriate entity-level objectives have been established and communicated
• A risk assessment process allowing for the identification and analysis of risk has been established
• Fraud risk is assessed.
• Established processes exist to identify and analyse the  internal and external significant changes which may affect the organization

CONTROL ACTIVITIES

Control activities are the policies and the procedures that leads to ensuring management directives are carried out. They include approvals, authorizations, verification, reconciliations, review of operating performance, security of assets and the segregation of duties. The principles under this component consists of:

• Control activities are designed and developed
•  General controls over information technology are designed and developed
•  Policies and procedures set out the control activities

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

This component deals with ensuring that key information are identified and communicated in a form and time-frame that enables people to carry out their responsibilities. It deals with reports containing the operational, financial, and the compliance related aspects of information that makes it possible to run and operate and organization efficiently and effectively. The principles under this component consists of:

• Information systems provide management with relevant external and internal information, and that information is provided to the right people.
• Adequate internal communication systems
• Appropriate external communication systems

MONITORING

This deals with monitoring the internal control systems that have been put in place. This process assesses the quality of the internal control system which is accomplished through monitoring activities and separate evaluations. The principles under this component consists of:

• Periodic evaluations of internal control are made.
• Management analyses and communicates known deficiencies and responds appropriately to risks related to those deficiencies.

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WHY ARE INTERNAL CONTROL PROCESSES IMPORTANT?

Internal control measures are needed for the progress of any type of organization. When this is done right, it helps to increase profitability while reducing risks. It is important because:

• It leads to effectiveness and efficiency of operations in an organization
•  It ensures reliability of financial reporting.
• It ensures compliance with applicable laws and regulations
• It provides reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives
•  For safeguarding business assets from stealing and wastage.
• It evaluates the functions of each employee and officer to increase efficiency in operation.

Examples of poor internal control includes:

• Lack of proper authorization
• Inadequate documentation
• No separation of duties for authorization, custody, record keeping
• No independent checks on performance
• Lack of clear lines of authority
• No written policies and procedures
• Inadequate training program for employee

WHO WE ARE?

Qeeva Advisory Limited is a member of Matog Consulting Group with over 12 years of experience in internal control services. An internal control service is a control system that deals with the process that the management of a firm uses to provide an assurance that its goals will be achieved. At Qeeva Advisory Limited, we understand that the internal controls serve as a relevant function to our client’s business. This is why we have extensive experience in providing internal control services to public and private companies, small and medium sized companies in order to  ensure that all the processes and implementation from internal operations, financial reporting to compliance are operating efficiently and effectively

WHAT WE DO?

At Qeeva Advisory Limited, we aid our clients in establishing and strengthening their internal control.  Our experts and professionals ensure that the assets of our clients are safeguarded, improve the reliability of financial information, establishment and the maintenance of compliance measures and well providing a mechanism for management to thoroughly monitor their achievement and objectives which will in turn lead to effective and effective operations

Our system and procedures are designed to discourage occurrences of errors or irregularities by identifying the irregularities and errors that may occur within a reasonable time frame. Our internal control team of professionals and experts can help you streamline your operations and increase business performance and productivity by evaluating current business processes and determining risks, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement

Our team of professionals helps you build, test and improve your internal controls with an:

Internal control review

Our experts and professionals identify the risks faced by our clients, we then proceed by evaluating the internal controls adopted by our client through interviews with the management and employees, visitation and observations. After which a report will be made on the recommendations and the best practices to adopt

Internal control testing

After the internal control review and all recommendations has been given, the next step is to test for the compliance to policies in order to quantify the effectiveness of the controls.

Some of the areas our internal control team review, evaluate and test are:

• Risk assessment and self-evaluation
• Cash controls
• Electronic banking
• Billing
• Collections Payroll
• Records, coding and billing
• Contracting
• Credentialing
• Information technology infrastructure
• General IT department controls
• Board governance
• Good governance
• Ethical practices
• Board self-evaluations

We indulge in different internal control services but are not limited to the following:

• Creating a framework of internal control based on a controlled environment
• We ensure that all transactions are authorized by a person given the approval authority in the organization especially when the transactions are consistent and funds are available for them
• We ensure that all the records for any type of transaction are routinely reviewed and reconciled by someone who is not the preparing it
• We provide employees with the adequate and appropriate training in order to guide them and ensure that they have the knowledge to carry out their duties
• We Document policies and procedures and also make  them accessible to employees in order to help provide day-to-day guidance to them
• We also ensure that our clients equipment, inventories, cash and other property are secured physically, counted periodically, and compared with item descriptions shown on control records
• We ensure provision of onsite and remote internal control testing of our client’s company
• We provide document service for remote access and storage
• We also act as client advocate with external audit
• We perform control remediation
• We prepare and assist with the financial reporting language
• We also provide one on one expert guidance and training

OUR INTERNAL CONTROL PROCESSES

Our processes at Qeeva Advisory Limited includes 4 key steps which are:

STEP 1	STEP 2	STEP 3	STEP 4
ORGANIZE THE PROCESSS   Organize the internal control Establish a plan or procedure Educate and communicate the plan	DOCUMENT AND EVALUATE CONTROLS Identify the key risks, accounts, processes, procedures and assertions Include controls measures at the transaction and application levels	MONITOR AND REPORT RESULTS   Establish a monitoring process Management assertion  on the internal control measures	MAXIMIZE INVESTMENT Determine the costs and benefits for the process, refinements and efficiencies

 

 

WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE US

At Qeeva Advisory Limited, we provide you with adequate and effective internal control services that evaluates and assesses our client current workflows, identify risks, we ensure segregation of duty and development of formal principles and policies that will guide the organization. You should hire us because:

• We assess internal controls for applicability or obsolescence to your current operating environment
• We Determine if the appropriate controls are in place and effectively working
• We have years of experience in internal control services. Our team consists of experts and professionals with experience, educational and professional backings
• We give recommendations on additional control that clients should implement where necessary
• Our experts can help you with both evaluating existing internal controls, and the creation or improvement of the framework of internal controls appropriate to your business
• We are committed to making our services flexible and tailored to our client’s risk environment  and complexity
• We provide expert advice to ensure your financial risk assessment and risk management efforts are effective.
• We specialize in providing tools and guidance designed to mitigate risk through strong internal controls.

Strong governance has to do with formulating clear goals for the business, providing structure and guidelines on how to reach the goals, managing risks and, in a systematic manner, ensuring that procedures and controls activities are in place in the organization for compliance. Acquiring internal control services like that of Qeeva Advisory Limited leads to strong governance

Our team of experts and professionals have years of experience working with a variety of industries in different sectors and addressing their unique internal control situation. As technology and business strategy changes, so does risk. Evaluate and test your internal controls regularly to ensure that you are operating effectively and your reporting is reliable.

We work with our client to establish internal control policy and also conduct assessment of adequacy of the current internal policy. We also support our client with corporate governance framework, risk management and compliance framework

As a Federal organization, your public assets require safeguarding and your best course of action is to maintain strict compliance of your internal controls. We assess the internal controls you have in place, determine gaps, recommend changes and implement, as needed, strong control environments that demonstrate financial accountability.