USA Checklist of systems controls?

[DJMattyFresh]

Hi All - I'm a controller of a privately held business with about 400 employees. I was recently hired - the previous controller was promoted to CFO when the old CFO retired. Both of them have been here for 25+ years.

We have no internal controls to speak of and I want to get the ball rolling on assessing our weaknesses and start to get some real controls in place. The first is the accounting system. Does anyone in this community have a standard list of questions I should ask of our IT staff. I'm thinking about things like who has access to what, what documentation do we have, etc.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bklynboy]

Start by using PCAOB reg as a basis which is what any internal/external auditor must adhere to. Here is the link to the website:

Standards

pcaobus.org

From this you should be able to set up a quick list of items to discuss but if there are no real controls today you are in for a long haul and lots of push back to get the proper controls in place.