Internal controls are defined as the processes by which a company safeguards its assets and provides reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of the company’s financial reporting, the effectiveness and efficiency if its operations, and its compliance with applicable laws and regulations (Libby, Libby, & Short, 2014).

To what extent are multinational corporations responsible for ensuring that workers’ rights are

respected? In a system where corporations, subcontractors, governments, NGOs, and individual

workers – are dispersed around the world where no clear rules or standards exist, what actions need to

be taken and by whom to maintain a minimum level of respect towards a worker’s basic human

rights? One area in need of significant improvement before Apple can eliminate labor rights

abuses by its suppliers is its level of transparency. Apple is renowned for keeping information on its

products and services secret, both to the public and within its own corporate structure, until the day of

the official launch or announcement and takes extraordinary measures in doing so. This has led to

Apple becoming an overall opaque corporation. According to Transparency International, an NGO that monitors and publicizes

information on the transparency of corporate and political bodies, Apple ranks as the 15th least

transparent company among the 105 most valuable multinational corporations in its Transparency in

Corporate Reporting index. Many of Apple’s secretive practices involve its suppliers as well; often

times the factory campuses of where Apple products are made are gated off and do not allow entry to

the public, security guards and local police are employed to prevent trespassing at these facilities, and

factory workers are required to sign confidentiality agreements and live in