Our World - Internal Controls

Consultants . Accountants . Auditors . Advisors . Attorneys

In the nearest future, stakeholders should look out for new reports from management and auditors about whether adequate internal control over financial reporting is in place. This information is important to stakeholders because good internal control over financial reporting is one of the most effective deterrents to fraud and a key factor in preventing financial misstatements. At Ladlas Prince, we focus more on not just the financial related items, but, also the organization as a whole, and we call that “Holistic assessment approach (Haa!).”

Enterprise Risks Management (ERM)

Risk management is an often misunderstood term, but we think the challenge is simple; businesses need to understand the risks they face and respond appropriately. While risk priorities vary by company size and industry sector, we consider the following to be some of the key issues.

How are you responding to risk issues?

Internal audit: for us, is a balancing art!

The question is how balance; is it focusing on the right things or too bogged down in compliance to be an effective exercise?

The profile of internal audit has never been higher than now, due to the following:

Key role in restoring confidence in financial reporting
Heavier compliance burden because of Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulations
More active Boards interested in financial and non-financial risks.

Are your Information Security controls an asset or a liability?

Evidence suggests that over 70% of US companies need to conduct "significant remediation" of Information management & security systems and controls.

Information management controls protect critical areas like intellectual property, customer and employee data/privacy, by ensuring the business has the right balance of confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Internal Controls Assessment and Reporting

Regulations vary a great deal around the world. However, there is a clear trend toward requiring greater transparency in financial reporting and more accountability to stakeholders coming from arms like the European Union’s Company Law Directives, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US, and comparable initiatives in other jurisdictions. We perform internal control assessment for either private or public organizations.

CEOs and CFOs of listed companies are being held more accountable for the integrity of their financial statements and the effectiveness of internal controls. But, as we always preach to you, our customers, do not wait to be held accountable; hold yourself accountable, because it is the right thing to do “simple!” Additionally, it great for your business, and you would have matured in doing so by the time you are ready for that 1 million miles jump (IPO). Stakeholders are taking on greater responsibility for overseeing management and for the relationship with the external auditor in a public environment.

ERM: do you have the strength of a holistic approach?

Many organizations have different approaches to risk across the organization, resulting in significant gaps and/or wasteful overlaps in their overall risk management. ERM can help create a global systematic approach to risk across the business.

Protecting your business includes investment in risk management. But how can you be sure you're seeing the full picture?

Here you will find our pin-point on managing risk, important risk issues that our customers are seeking consultation on; the views of key stakeholders; sector insights, and how we are helping customers to tackle their challenges and opportunities in risk.

How are you responding to risk issues?

Risk post IPO

We will help companies (newly listed, existing mid-cap and pre-IPO businesses) to identify what these risks are and what can be done about them.

Tax risk

In today’s market, tax directors and CFOs have to react to increased internal and external scrutiny, which brings about greater awareness of the need for tax risk management. This includes the overall management of the tax section, and its relation to the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards, FAS 109, new internal control management and reporting standards such as SOX-404 and greater uncertainty over tax positions taken in the past.

Risk of corporate governance

Risk management is one element of good corporate governance. Refer to our corporate governance section and read more.

Fraud risk

White-collar crime and compliance missteps have become a lightning rod for governments, regulators, stakeholders, and the public. While fraud and corruption are facts of business life, there are steps a business can take to manage the risks and respond effectively.

Financial risk

Cash is king, and if liquidity is not managed properly, an enterprise bond to fail. If left unchecked, financial risks related to cash flow, foreign exchange, interest rate changes and credit risk could ruin an otherwise solid business. To turn financial challenges into financial opportunities, businesses need to align the economic capital decisions to business objectives, and put the right financial models and performance goals in place.