It is increasingly important to have an IT department with proper internal controls built into the IT operations. Two major factors have caused senior management to take a closer look at the IT controls in the organization.

• Regulatory Compliance: new laws like Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) specifies that select senior officers will attest to the state of the internal controls of the company and the reliability of the financial statement released. Almost all company transactions involve use of a computer system, it is important that there are adequate systems controls in place to assure regulators that the attestation by management is reliable.
  
• IT expenditure: it is also important that IT expenditure is aligned with the company’s business strategy. Technology cost is one significant internal expense as the reliance on technology systems to perform and report on transactions increases. It is important that these costs are aligned with business strategy. There should be a documented IT process that integrates business participation in the creation of an IT strategy plan.
  

The short-term approach to verify adequate internal controls is to test existing controls and recommend compensating or new controls for weak controls. A long term approach is to build controls into the IT planning processes. For small and mid-size companies, a better cost effective way is to have a comprehensive information systems policy document, which can be used as a control guideline for assessing their current operations and creating new processes.

TLK can review your current process and based on our knowledge of industry best practices we will develop an IT policy that will improve your technology efficiency.