Controls, Policies and Procedures Manuals

A important step for any small business owner is to implement properly designed internal controls.

Internal Controls help ensure that;

• Business is conducted efficiently
• Assets are safeguarded
• Fraud and other unlawful acts are prevented and detected
• Finincial records are accurate and complete
• Financial statements are prepared on a timely basis

Policies and procedures provide a guide for meeting organizational objectives and describe the steps that employees are to take when creating a product or delivering a service.

This ensures consistency in practice and helps to maintain product quality.  A policy will set the expectation for employee behaviors and the procedure outlines the steps for it.

Policies and procedures help ensure that;

• tasks are completed efficierntlty and consistently
• there is documented recourse available to train new staff
• experiences and lessons are incorporated and passed down to new/future employees
• performance can be measured by determining if the process was followed appropriately

Documenting controls, policies and procedures is important for accreditations like ISO.