Developed by: Jonathan T. Marks with Robert Mainardi
Background
The concept of Internal Control appeared as a practice in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century, whereas in
Compliance officers talk about controls constantly. Effective controls are the lifeblood of what makes a compliance program work. Most of us can rattle off examples of controls, or recognize a control when we see one.
So my fellow speaker asked the audience: What is a control?
Nobody dared answer. We all, me included, were suddenly uncertain that we could define a control correctly.
The speaker who posed this question is Jonathan T. Marks, partner at Baker Tilly and a prolific thinker on all things forensics, audit, and internal control. Lately Marks has been asking audit and compliance audiences to define a control — and to his dismay, most people can’t.
Read Marks’ definition of internal control.
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