What we can not ignore!
Are they basic, elementary functions or mechanisms that cannot be ignored in the control?
It has been specifying, of course long before the promulgation of Resolution 297/03 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, that in the V Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, among other things, it was stated "That in the new conditions in which it operates the economy, with a greater degree of decentralization and more linked to the demands of international competition, the timely and effective control of economic activity is essential for management at any level… ”
Despite the immense clarity of the term, since in essence it manages to bring people to the knowledge and to assume on the part of our officials and leaders, not only the competition mechanism that is increasingly reached in the international context, but to the need that we all have to internalize the issue of control, in order to achieve more and more effective and sustained prevention, as anterooms that precisely echo and guide the aforementioned Resolution.
But, in my opinion, it is necessary to internalize an aspect that seems crucial to us for such purposes, since if our leaders at the different levels of management are not able to understand the essential need for knowledge, application and control of the so-called basic functions of the Internal control, this leads to a fissure that still persists and that we must solve immediately.
To that end, it occurs to us to do it by comparing it to budgetary targets.
In this way we could be in the presence of two of the most controversial aspects, in the application of alternatives that lead our entities to comply with their management mechanism, being able to develop and follow the best strategy in their economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
Basic functions of Internal control:
First Function: Planning
It consists of the selection of objectives, policies, programs and procedures appropriate to the fulfillment of the objectives of the entity, in order to achieve them, either for the entity as a whole or for some organizational unit of it.
Planning establishes the goals to be achieved in the future and the conditions in which they must be achieved, making it a decision about the future and not a divination of the future.
All of the above, shows us that if an entity does not take these aspects into account, how could we meet the requirements for which the entity was established, how could we internalize the functions of the day, if we lack an informed starting point, which tells us what to do, with whom, how, where, for what, etc.
Second Function: The Organization.
It includes the determination and enumeration of the activities necessary to fulfill the planned objectives, the grouping of these activities and the assignment of the responsibility for their execution to an organizational unit or element of the entity, delegating to it the necessary authority to complete the planned activities..
In general, it can be expressed that this function corresponds to the creation of the Organizational Structure with the corresponding assignment of responsibilities and delegation of authority, therefore, the Organizational Structure does not constitute an end in itself, but a tool or method to achieve the planned goals.
The highest level of Management assigns responsibilities and delegates authority to the subordinate levels of command, but since the responsibility is not delegable, the highest level of Management will always be responsible for the result of the activities of the entity that it directs.
This shows that very little will be achieved in the result of a certain activity, if we do not achieve an adequate level of organization than previously planned.
It is like doing without first taking into consideration what we were created as an entity, or perhaps doing, without taking into account the effective knowledge of our performance and that is why part or perhaps everything we do in the day is lost, because He did not fulfill the desired role, or also change our vision in order to fulfill everything that we are told or given to do, without realizing that this is all that is mutilating our corporate purpose; the well-known "at all costs and at all costs"
It is also important to bear in mind that any of the activities we carry out must maintain the most adequate order possible, otherwise we could do two and more times the same things, or the same people the same functions, and this only what would achieve is to conspire with the economy and efficiency of the entity.
But also efficiency, since organizing is also knowing what we do, for whom we do it, at what time we do it; otherwise it expires or simply what we do is useless.
Third Function: The Direction
It includes the guidance and supervision of the execution of subordinates and despite being a very simple concept, the particular management methods used can be of extraordinary complexity or variety, depending largely on the traditions of the entity, its history, its objectives and policies and basically the characteristics of the people who perform the management functions, especially their technical level, their experience, their degree of updating, etc.
It means that it is essential at all times to be able to lead, we must take into account the two previous functions, that is, plan and organize, otherwise it would happen to us that we are only being effective in saying, but very little in doing so while maintaining a line of proper direction, not only in its foundation, but also in the way we do it, that we guide it.
It is perhaps very daily to see in any entity, that a leader informs a group of the tasks to be carried out, or the way in which a certain activity will be checked; but many times this is done without taking into account the way in which we say it, to whom we inform it and even the period in which we will evaluate it; which brings with it that the work may be done, but we do not achieve in the participants the level of belonging that such activity requires, which brings with it disinterest, boredom, and even distrust because it was only assumed and not internalized by the acting worker or official.
For this reason, communication, among other aspects, plays a preponderant role in the successful fulfillment of a given order or of a check-up carried out, because in both aspects it makes the people acting internalize the problem and manage to feel part of what they will do, and this assumes likewise the different forms that exist to report or communicate something, that is, the ascending, descending or transversal forms, in the entity and the labor group itself.
It is equally important that the leader does not report what occurs to him or that is necessary for him at the time, otherwise he could easily fall into decision-making for what is convenient for him and not what pays the entire group.
A leader may be in great need of something being accomplished, but if it contravenes some legal provision or another that was previously planned, then he would fall into unforgivable violations, since he is directing by whims or mere occasional decisions, and not by objectives or values, what would detract his own conception for what he was named, and even his conditions perhaps previously received with approval by the group.
Fourth Function: Control
It consists of systematically recording and evaluating the execution of the entity's activities, knowing the deviations with respect to the plans, projects, budgets, rules or regulations in order to determine the corresponding corrective measures, guaranteeing their execution and the rectification of the deviations.
In simple terms, it can be stated that control consists of comparing the actual execution with the expected one, determining the deviations and executing the necessary measures to correct them.
Seen in the context of the new conceptions of internal control, we could say that adequately meeting the objectives of information reliability; efficiency and effectiveness of operations; compliance with the laws, regulations and established policies and control of resources of all kinds, available to the entity, what makes us be in presence precisely to the concept of reasonable security of internal control.
In the same way, we have the responsibility above all with our workforce, that control must play, above all, a preventive impact; It is practically worthless to go around detecting deficiencies that could be prevented, especially when with it we save the material responsibility of the worker later, otherwise we lose double, that is, the loss caused by the fact and the leader or worker that we have to sanction for said deficiency.
So much so, that if we assume it equally as for the control of the budget, we have in advance that its fundamental objectives also assume this preventive role, since it opens up precisely in objectives for such purposes, such as:
Budget Objectives.
The objectives of the budget are those of Forecast, Planning, Organization, Coordination or Integration, Direction and Control; that is to say, they understand or are in all the stages of the Administrative Process, being its content among others:
First Objective: Forecast
They are aimed at recognizing what is necessary, having everything in advance for the preparation and execution of the budget, in order to meet presumable needs in time.
This means that in the absence of a complete analysis of the problems that surround the entity, in terms of its functionality and performance, the forecasting mechanism that will be done at the time of shaping the budget will be very poor, and this will bring, among others things not only the breach of the objectives of the entity, but also the control of its resources at all times.
That is why, we must move to prevent each of the aspects that lead to the development of a certain activity, since to the extent that each foundation is accompanied by a support or control spring, in that same measure the budgeting process and control of your resources.
Second Objective: Planning
It will be aimed at what and how will it be done? It is the way to go, with the unification and systematization of activities, through which the objectives of the company and the organization necessary to achieve them are established, planning is foreseen. unified and systematized of possible actions, in accordance with the objectives.
This shows that each planning process must inevitably be accompanied by an adequate foundation that shows that what is requested is being the essential basis of a given activity, so there is no room for doubts about failures, much less to say. but to do because it is essential for the achievement or management of the entity.
Third Objective: Organization
They respond to who will do it? They include the technical structuring of the relationships that must exist between the functions, levels, and activities of the material and human elements of an entity, in order to achieve maximum efficiency within the plans and stated objectives.
All this allows an adequate, precise and functional structure and development of the entity to exist; which inevitably entails that they achieve in a real way the functional inter-relationship of each of the areas and objective performance in them, avoiding dual functions or that some of the activities fall into nobody's territory.
Fourth Objective: Coordination or Integration
They include what is done and formed in order, particularly and in general with respect to the development, maintenance, and harmonious achievement of the activities of the entity, in order to avoid situations of imbalance, between the different sections that make up its organization.
The above also demonstrates the Inter-relationship with some of the internal control standards such as: Integrity, mutual trust, assignment of authority and responsibility, coordination between areas, etc.
Fifth Objective: Direction
They try to guide the path or ratio of it so that it is done, they are of great help in complying with the policies to be followed, decision-making and overall vision, they also constitute bases for the leadership and guidance of subordinates.
But also that it really serves as an efficient management mechanism, since if we begin to direct the budget in interest not previously planned, all this would not only violate previous foundations that supported the approved amount, but we lose the direction line for objectives and values.
Goal Six: Control
They ensure that the action is carried out through which, it is appreciated if the plans and objectives are being met, they establish a timely comparison between what is budgeted and the results obtained, leading to analyzable and measurable differences, in order to carry out exceedances and corrections if there are consequences.
In the same way, it achieves the foundation of the subsequent budgets, since it seeks the functionality in which the previous ones have been carried out, to prevent in advance the new challenges and alternatives of the subsequent budgets.
We wanted to demonstrate in only these two essential elements of our economy, the need to gradually integrate in each of the actions and / or performance, the search not only for mechanisms that inter-relate each of the areas of work, but also to others that help the development to be harmonious and proportional, thus avoiding the existence of inoperation and inconsistency in the different tasks, which is only a product of the lack of a real identification of each of our tasks, which creates risks in the entity.
In the same way we want to expose that it has acceptance in each and every one of the tasks carried out in the entity, because it is unforgivable that we are guided by a management process, without first taking other essential measures, which precisely appear both in prevention as in planning, organization, coordination or integration, since everything has to carry with it a procedure as established and regulated by Resolution 297/03 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, a component called Control Activities, since it supports not only the tasks that each job has to carry out, but the mechanisms and / or procedures that must be followed preventively so as not to violate each one of them, on which Control is based.
In our opinion, we cannot continue creating activities that lead to the foundation of a job or work area, but rather those that increasingly lead to their real performance, and thus form a series of mechanisms where preventively the worker knows not only what what you have to do, and if your negligence were incurred despite these levels of education, know what to expect.
It is always worthwhile to base the actions of our work, with full knowledge of what we receive from others, what supports the raw material of our work; But it also sows a sense of belonging to know where what we do goes, the fruit of our work, because it inevitably gives us satisfaction and greater effectiveness because we can measure the impact it has on our entity and beyond.
