Segregation of Duties for Small Businesses
Posted by EYHokie
Small businesses, by the nature of their size, often do not
have the ability/resources to fully segregate their back-office
operations. For some companies, the
visionary is driving the direction of the company and controls are not at the
forefront. The objective is to grow,
grow, grow. With success, the company
continues to focus on the strategy, marketing and operations. What about the back-office?
Upon a quick search, I found a great SOD matrix developed by
University System of Georgia. Their
definition of SOD is as follows:
“The concept of Segregation of
Duties is to separate the major responsibilities of authorizing transactions,
custody of assets, recording of transactions and reconciliation/verification of
transactions for each business process.”[1]
A document I found from the Technology Evaluation Centers
Inc. has a great matrix to use[2]. Due to the size of a small business the
matrix is a bit excessive and impossible to fully implement. Remember, we are talking about that visionary
that isn’t worried about the accounting and supporting technology. What are some of the key functions the firm
should care about? How do they handle
them? I’m going to do a bit of research
and find out what some companies do.
Nothing big or formal.
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