WSU Audit Update Blog

Internal controls help keep our resources applied to our mission and the university's arrow pointing up! Here, you can watch the full 20-minute internal control video uninterrupted. Take a 12-question quiz to reinforce your understanding and learn how to earn a digital credential as a WSU Internal Control All-Star.

What can happen in a department with a poor control environment, where controls are lax, oversight is poor, and no one says anything or follows up? Here, we review what a California university learned when the control environment in one of its departments was lacking.

The final component of our internal control pyramid, monitoring, appropriately resides at the pyramid's apex. Our last video segment recaps how everyone in an organization has a role in internal control and the characteristics an organization "in control" demonstrates.

Information and communication affect all the other components of internal control. Of course, information and communication are not unique to internal control. They're essential for almost all organizational activities, as a few passages from the autobiography of a childhood football hero of mine illustrate.

"Auditor" comes from the Latin audire, "to hear," "a listener."  Does your work include audit-like responsibilities? If you review, verify, evaluate, grade, consult, or troubleshoot, the answer is "yes!" Control activities help you carry out your responsibilities so WSU, your college, and your department can realize its goals or objectives.

We've been using a pyramid to illustrate the five interrelated components of internal control. At the pyramid's core is our second component, risk assessment—identifying and analyzing relevant threats to achieving an organization's strategic and operational objectives with a forward-looking focus.

Tone at the Top provides the foundation for an organization's control environment. But Tone at the Top does not come only from top management. There is a trickle-down effect that can originate from many positions. You set the tone in your area of influence.

An organization's control environment is the component most influencing the control consciousness of its people. The control environment is the basis for internal control and sets the tone for an organization. This episode examines how you contribute to the university's control environment.

What is internal control? This episode provides a definition highlighting the importance of an organization's people to its control system and internal controls' connection to positive risk-taking and meeting objectives.

Internal controls provide direction and prevent, find, and fix problems! Everyone working at a college or university has a role in internal control. Here we begin a 10-part series about internal control at colleges and universities that will heighten your understanding of our control system at WSU and your essential role in its success!