...Controls for IT and Reporting University of Phoenix Internal Controls ACC 544 August 22, 2011 Controls for IT and Reporting As more business processes become streamlined and automated, many companies rely heavily on technology and the support from their Information Technology departments. Information technology has the largest responsibility within an organization. Information technology is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the hardware and software within a company. Information technology is responsible for ensuring that the hardware and software are secure and align with the company’s needs, business operations, goals and objectives. Information technology serves as a mechanism of supporting internal control systems and reporting. Most information, including financial records, that are generated, circulated, and reported within a company are electronic. Therefore, the threat of information technology being compromised is prevalent. Companies must take precautions to protect their systems and choose proper internal controls for information technology and reporting. This includes evaluating the internal controls system’s effectiveness and answering the following questions: • Is the design and operation of the internal control system up-to-date with technological advancements? • Is the internal control system and reporting in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002? • Does the current system identify existing controls that are inefficient...
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...GUIDELINES...............................................................................7 REAR YARD FENCE GUIDELINES ......................................................................................9 PLAY EQUIPMENT GUIDELINES ......................................................................................11 SATELLITE RECEIVER (DISH) GUIDELINES ..................................................................13 GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS, LANDSCAPE & MAINTENANCE GUIDELINES..........14 LIST OF RECOMMENDED PLANT SPECIES ....................................................................19 EXHIBIT A REQUEST FORM 2 CHRISTENBURY MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC. ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE INTRODUCTION The Architectural Control Committee (ACC) is providing the attached Architectural Design Guidelines (“Guidelines”) in accordance with that Declaration of Covenants, Easements, Conditions and Restrictions (“Declaration”), for purposes of establishing and maintaining exterior design elements throughout Christenbury. This document should be filed with the homeowners’ copy of the Declaration received at closing. It is the responsibility of each homeowner to pass along the Declaration and Guidelines to any future buyer of their home at Christenbury. It is important to note that the Guidelines are applicable to most all future building exterior and property...
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...Jose Cando ENGL-2327 April 26, 2014 Balcones Fiction and Poetry Winners Reading Event: Natalie Diaz’s Reading of When My Brother Was an Aztec Outside the ACC Theater on April 9th, the public was greeted by tables of refreshment including fruits cheeses and crackers which was a nice surprise. Although, I had expected a packed theater, only about forty people were waiting inside. The event started at 6:30 pm when Charlotte Gullick, the chair of the creative a writing department took the stage. After promoting some of creative writing classes at ACC, she described the significance of the Balcones prizes. A teacher from the English department took the stage next to talk a little more about the Balcones prize. He pointed out that Natalie Diaz was the sixteenth winner of this prize. He described Ms. Diaz as a woman with her foot “in three different worlds.” Her childhood was spent on the Mojave reservation in the California Desert. She attended college in Virginia on a basketball scholarship, and from there she played professional basketball in Europe and Asia. After injuring her knee, she left basketball to study poetry in graduate school. Therefore, he claimed, she has a foot in the worlds of the reservation, basketball and poetry. With that, he welcomed Nathalie to the stage. Nathalie jumped into reading her poem, “When My Brother Was an Aztec.” I was shocked to hear the bitterness and resentment in her voice as she describe her brother as a nasty and careless force which...
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...Controls for Information Technology Janet Lafountain ACC/544 July 9, 2012 Bret Mann Controls for Information Technology Many types of controls for Information Technology are available for companies to choose, the controls for reporting and evaluation would benefit the company and keep employees and investors informed. Managers and investors need to understand this information to make knowledgeable decisions. One responsibility as a controller is to keeping track of information. Information is vital to the company. Generic tools do not provide optimal protection for the company, unlike document management, and workflow tools. The document management and workflow tools go together with different accounting software. The data provided by these tools assist management by making it straightforward and easy to access the information. Linking separate processes, the examination of instrumental job responsibilities, and the relations to the progress of work are achievable. As the transformation of the company’s business practices become essential after monitoring, updating the risk and controls becomes necessary also. The other tools useful to the company are real-time compliance and data mining. Real-time compliance tools offer data throughout the company via added software. This data is available to make reliable improvements to practices and procedures and any compliance problems are accessible by management at any time. Data mining draws on information from...
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...Justification for an Internal Control System ACC/544 Internal Control System Relying on the insurance and portfolio approach are acceptable for maintaining organizational risk, however, for optimum protection there must be internal controls in place. This report will focus on justifying why implementing internal control is better than relying on the insurance and portfolio approach. Although the insurance and portfolio approaches will be explained, the report justifies why an internal control system is vital to successfully managing risk. As a result management will be able to identify why an internal control system works best. Insurance Approach Insurance in terms of risk management is the process of preparing for the possibility of an event happening that might cause harm to the business. By using the insurance approach, an organization prepares in advance for what might go wrong, plan preventive measures, and protecting investments. The drawback to the insurance approach is that it suggestes an organization will fail and will need to be prepared for that possible failure. Management basically attests to accepting a loss. This realization is not a positive aspect for the company and management should consider a new approach. Portfolio Approach The portfolio approach is a good way to quantify risk while maintaining certain levels of adequate investments. When using this approach, management tends to combine risk so that the organization looks better on financial...
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...Justification for an Internal Control Daniel R Rojas ACC/544 November 11, 2013 Fred Johnston Justification for an Internal Control In a business, any control system is great for a company. Insurance and Portfolio Approaches are good to have, however they’re not a guarantee as they fall under the category of being risky. The best way to lower the risk in a company is to invest more into internal controls. Having security on the perspective of being on the “inside” is less of risk oppose to just having external security. Internal controls, along with insurance and portfolio approaches will be discussed below. Take into consideration the pros and cons. There are a host of benefits and reasons why to comply with business insurance requirements imposed by both financial and government agencies. Financial service providers, especially banks and investors, may tie-up access to capital and financing when insurance requirements are not met. So it is of great benefit and importance to get the types and levels of coverage that meet their specifications. Government agencies (federal, state, and local) can impose fines, restrictions, and cancel required licenses that could virtually shut operations down. Second only to its employees, a business's structure, warehouse, products and property are important to insure. Business owners should make it a point to check out insurance companies that specialize in commercial property and casualty insurance. These companies know how to assess...
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...Internal Control System Joseph Johnson Internal Control Systems ACC/544 (course) June 12, 2012 Abstract This report will question the need for an internal control system. With this report I will justify the need for the system when controls are in place with insurance and portfolio approaches. An internal control system is important to companies. Most businesses use the insurance and portfolio approaches to manage the risks that the business has within the company although other company’s use an internal control system. The following brief will describe each approach and what the benefits would be if they would use an internal control system. Current Approaches There are two approaches, as mentioned earlier, that are used with controls to prevent risks from happening within the company. These two approaches are insurance and portfolio approaches. The first approach is an insurance approach that protects the company’s investment. When a company purchases insurance it is used to protect them from a loss that may occur. Insurance is considered more of a financing tool instead of a management tool. This approach keeps the impact of the losses instead of protecting assets from the losses that come up. The portfolio approach is more structured because it provides context and helps with decision making. When using a portfolio approach it minimizes a risk while improving the investment of the company. This does not protect the investment from risk but improves...
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...Recommendation for an Internal Accountant University of Phoenix ACC/544 Facilitator: Michael Meyer June 6, 2011 Recommendation for an Internal Accountant Internal Auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations (What is internal auditing?, 2010). Internal accounting control is a series of procedures designed to promote and protect sound management practices, both general and financial that will increase the likelihood that: * Financial information is reliable, so that managers and the board can depend on accurate information to make programmatic and other decisions * Assets and records of the organization are not stolen, misused, or accidentally destroyed * The organizations policies are followed * And government regulations are met (Internal Accounting, 2011). It is important to have an internal accountant available to help instill these controls and ensure compliance with Generally Accepted Principles. Internal Accountants Management accountants and internal auditors are both imperative to a company to help with internal controls. Management accountants study and interpret business numbers, and decide on how money should be spent and advise management on key business decisions (Career: Management Accountants and Internal Auditors, 2011). Internal auditors check the records of management accountants to make sure they are accurate and that the controls are...
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...Checklist for Evaluating Internal Controls Samy Yaacoub ACC/544 Internal Control Systems Prof. Robert J. Cornett March 26, 2012 University of Phoenix Checklist for Evaluating Internal Controls Abstract An auditor uses a checklist as an efficient toll in performing a review to the organization departments’ internal controls. This report provides a suggested comprehensive checklist to evaluate the organization internal control system in the PowerPoint presentation attached. It is also explains how to use this checklist and how the checklist covers and compound the organization internal control system objectives and its five component in the three phases of the internal control. Using the Checklist in Evaluating Organization Internal Controls The checklist works as an efficient tool to evaluate the organization internal control system through reviewing the organization internal control objectives. The checklist questions examine these objectives in details because it asks to response to topics related to authorization and approval, validity, completeness, recording accuracy, safeguarding, and reconciliation. The response to the checklist questions are including alternative answer “yes, no, not sure, and not applicable.” The “no” reply will designate usually a possible weakness, this can compensate by compensating controls within the unit. Apply the checklist to outline/discuss phases of the control evaluation The checklist beads...
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...Justification for an Internal Control System ACC/544 The Controller is responsible for analyzing a company's performance in compliance and reporting, operations and assist management in developing its goals and budgets. They are also responsible for analyzing and managing risks companies may encounter. Performing these tasks require the controllers and financial officers to establish internal controls. The internal control system ensures that financial statements are reliable and are compliant with financial regulations; risks are reduced, and short and long time goals are identified and met. Internal controls are systematic measures (such as reviews, checks and balances, methods and procedures) instituted by an organization to (1) conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner, (2) safeguard its assets and resources, (3) deter and detect errors, fraud, and theft, (4) ensure accuracy and completeness of its accounting data, (5) produce reliable and timely financial and management information, and (6) ensure adherence to its policies and plans (Business dictionary.com). Internal control systems are improved ways of controlling organizations with minimize risk, loss reduction, and also to achieve goals. Justifying the need for the internal control system can be done by using the insurance and political approaches. Asset allocation, security valuation, performance, and optimization are considered with the approaches. Companies acquire insurance...
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...Controls for Information Technology (IT) and Reporting and Evaluation Jami L. Valek ACC-544 January 28, 2013 Christine Errico Controls for Information Technology (IT) and Reporting and Evaluation Information Technology (IT) controls are activities that are specifically performed to ensure that business objectives are met through the use of people and systems. IT control objectives are related to the business enterprise’s confidentiality, integrity, availability of data, and the overall management of the IT functions. There are two types of IT controls: IT general controls, which are controls over the IT environment, computer operations, access to programs and data, program development and program changes; and IT application controls, which refer to transaction processing controls (“Information Technology Controls”, 2013). IT General Controls are the foundation of a company’s IT control structure. With IT General Controls, data that is generated can be deemed more reliable and assertion that systems are operating as intended is supported. IT General Controls usually include controls that are designed to: * Shape the corporate environment through control environment; * Ensure that changes are authorized and meet business requirements through changes in management procedures; * Protect the integrity of program controls through source code/document version controls procedures; * Ensure effective management of IT projects through software development life...
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...Phases of Control Evaluation ACC/544 Bunney Schmidt January 28, 2013 The purpose of the internal control evaluation is to assess control risk and provide useful information to management and directors for carrying out the company’s control mission (Louwers, Ramsay, Sinason, & Strawser., 2007). The first phase of the audit cycle is to understand and document the client’s internal controls. This phase introduces the auditor to the client’s control environment and management’s risk assessment (Louwers, Ramsay, Sinason, & Strawser., 2007). Phase two of the audit cycle is to assess the control risk. This phase analyzes the control strengths and weaknesses to assess the control risk (Louwers, Ramsay, Sinason, & Strawser., 2007). The third phase is to perform tests of controls and reassess control risk. In this phase of the evaluation the required degree of compliance with the control policies and procedures and the actual degree of compliance are determined (Louwers, Ramsay, Sinason, & Strawser., 2007). For the accounts payable process the first control objective is to make sure the purchase orders are only used by authorized individuals. If the policies and procedures are not effective in holding individuals accountable for unauthorized use, this could provide a control risk for the company. It is important that po numbers are used, and they are kept track of. They should also be approved by management, and all vendors should know who is authorized to make...
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...Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant 1 Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant Kelsy Fee ACC/544 April 13, 2015 Professor La Ron Roach Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant 2 In this recommendation brief the benefits of hiring an internal accountant will be discussed. Having an internal accountant would help fix an out-of-control system and the justification of taking advantage of one will be included in this brief. Along with those two items the brief will also explain how the background of a referred internal accountant benefits the client. Before discussing the benefits of hiring an internal accountant let us define what an internal accountant does. According to University of Phoenix Risk from the CEO and Board Perspective (2004), internal auditor responsibilities include risk management and control systems. They are expected to help management by handling issues that may arise and perform system audits to uphold the internal responsibilities. An internal auditor will evaluate the company’s performance and make sure they are not violating any laws or regulations. Policies and procedures will also be reviewed and made sure that they are in line with the mission and goals of the company ("The Benefits Of The Internal Audit", 2015). The benefits of hiring an internal accountant include the following: the protection of company assets, increasing the value of the company by improving performance and providing...
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...Internal Controls for Information Technology ACC 544 September 2, 2013 Miriam Shealy Internal Controls for Information Technology Internal controls for Information Technology are important as they help protect the company’s assets. Internal controls are necessary to comply with the security of the company’s information. Internal controls will be reviewed in this document as well as how can the company review its security over their internal controls. The assets of the company need to be protected. In order to do so, the company needs to review for risks. The company needs to develop a plan for what internal control measures they would want to put into place. Internal controls will help guide how we protect our assets against threats and vulnerabilities. Threats to a company’s assets can be known or unknown. A hacker of the system can bring parts of a system down or lose some data. It also can completely take down the system. A company should have a threat agent that would help identify such a task. The IT team will need to correct and fix this quickly. It is necessary to have firewalls in the system that will help protect against vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities for the system would be not protecting the system. If there is not a firewall or security agent assigned to the system the information can be stolen and damaged by any type of threat. The company should take steps of system control with monitoring, managing, and having back...
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...Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant Kandi Kolka ACC/544 January 19, 2015 Bunney Schmidt Recommendation Brief for an Internal Accountant When a company hires an Internal Auditor it is usually to improve the business or make sure internal accounts are effective. An auditor would be hired to come into the business and go through the accounts. The accountant would make sure that the company is complying with the government. The auditor would look for internal fraud, operations, and assets. The auditor is hired to make sure the company is profitable and if not what they should do to become profitable. There are three ways for a company to change profitability; by increasing sales, decreasing variables and or reducing average operating expenses. An internal accountant is brought into a business to improve the effectiveness of the internal day to day operations. The internal accountant will test or audit the internal controls for mismanagements and fraud. The internal auditor will make sure that the business is complying with all of the government’s regulations. If the company is not complying this could mean serious trouble from the government. This is why it is important to bring someone who has a vast amount of knowledge into view the components of the company. When an individual internal auditor is brought into a company they may not have exact knowledge of the company but they know what they are looking for. They will investigate the books of the company....
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