1. General approach
The present work is carried out in order to synthesize in a simple way the functions and activities that the Comptroller of a company must carry out, according to the sequential order that their service follows from the moment it enters an organization, passing through the specific work environment in which it will operate and even the results obtained from the development of its work and the analysis of the future projection that the entity reflects.
As background and to be able to locate in a useful and practical way the field of action of the Comptroller, it is very important to mention that this is an integral part of the Administrative Process of an organization, which consists of four steps and is commonly accepted in the following order of concepts:
Planning - Organization - Direction - Control.
In addition to the above, it is convenient to comment that the Comptroller's Office arises from the need to have, within an organization, procedures regulated by policies (previously analyzed) strictly applied to all areas of the entity in order to meet the objectives established institutional institutions, and as a personal criterion, seeking at all times a joint benefit for all direct and indirect members who work with and for the organization.
2. Definition of internal control
The concept that concerns us has different meanings and fields of action for its application, this due to the great variety of turns and objectives for which you want to implement a control in the operation and administration of each entity, the latter being the most common, those that have to do in general with the safeguarding and optimization of the various resources that an organization has.
According to the above and in order to understand in a simple way what Internal Control is, we will take the definition of the Auditing Standards and Procedures of the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants, which literally states that:
Internal Control consists of the policies and procedures established to provide reasonable assurance of being able to achieve the specific objectives of the entity.
(Bulletin 3050, paragraph 6 of the IMCP Auditing Standards and Procedures, 27th Edition, 2007).
3. Comptroller's academic and work profile
The academic Profile that is required to carry out the functions of Comptroller within a company, is commonly, that of those professionals who are titled under the following degrees:
• Administration.
• Accounting.
The above due to the more attached management that these professions have with respect to the Administrative Process of a company, a process of which the Control is an integral part, as mentioned previously in paragraph 2 of point 1 of this document.
The Job Profile commonly required for a Comptroller, has to do (in addition to having the academic profile already mentioned) with the experience and focus on accounting, financial, legal and administrative functions, whose implementation and application must be substantiated and documented with the regulations and / or legislation that applies to each function. The attitude of the Comptroller must be tending at all times to the orderly application of the Administrative Process for the achievement of objectives, for which it will require constant interference and involvement in all the processes of the different areas and departments that the organization has.
It is worth mentioning that leadership and empathy will play an important role in the performance of their duties.
4. Specific objectives of the comptroller in each company
In each organization, and depending on the line of business and scope in which its operations are carried out, its general objectives will be established. Based on the above, the specific objectives in each area will have to be established, and for this purpose it will be convenient to consider the following basic aspects: Effectiveness and efficiency of operations; reliability of financial reports and compliance with laws, rules and regulations, which frame administrative action.
(CHARRY Rodríguez, Alirio. Internal control and the principles of management evaluation in State entities 1st Edition).
Therefore, and based on the aforementioned basic aspects, it will be important to establish, together with the company's senior management, the specific objectives, while reviewing the means by which they intend to achieve.
5. Location of the controller in the organization chart of the company
According to the functions and activities of the Controller, and his relationship and interference in the other areas of an organization, a server considers that the location of the post in question should be as follows:
In order to define the specific field of action of a company where the Comptroller's functions will be carried out, it is essential to determine (preferably in writing through an internal memorandum, for example) the scope of the work, the conditions and the means to the application of systems and procedures in connection with the activities of the Comptroller. The aforementioned is recommended that those responsible for the area be informed and disclosed in as much detail as possible, so that the joint collaboration of all the departments allows achieving the established Internal Control objectives and achieving them in the most efficient way possible. efficient and timely, as well as in agreement by all the members of the company,Those who must bear in mind that their participation and willingness to change will be the engines that allow progress to be made on the basis of the Comptroller.
Due to the above, the relationship that the Comptroller will have with all the other areas will depend on the specific objectives that are set for each of them, and generally for the organization as a whole.
The interference and the degree of involvement, like what has already been mentioned in the previous paragraph, will be carried out according to the objectives and specific characteristics of each area.
The departments with which the Comptroller commonly works, and in which he must have due Scope, relationship and interference in order to achieve his objectives, are the following:
• Administrative Council.
• General Direction.
• Administration.
• Accounting.
• Sales.
• Warehouse.
• Human Resources.
• External Audit (If applicable).
• Professional Legal, Fiscal, Social Security Services, etc. (In your case).
• Production (If applicable).
• Maintenance (If applicable).
• General Services (If applicable).
7. General functions and activities of the comptroller
In order to define in the work order, the functions and activities of the Comptroller, a brief explanation of the Comptroller's process in a company is detailed below:
to. Induction and location of problem areas and improvement.
In the first instance, and considering that the Comptroller's work begins here, induction through knowledge of the history of the company, current processes, current policies, techniques, methods and systems used in all is very important and each of the areas of the company and the specific objectives pursued; Likewise and with equal importance, it is essential to know all the people in charge of each of the functions and activities in the organization. For a better coordination of the work, it will be necessary that all of the above is delivered to the Comptroller in writing for subsequent consultation.
Once you have the information regarding the different movements and operations of the company, as well as those who carry them out, you will have to work on the analysis of the financial situation of the company and the recent results of its operation, in collaboration with the accounting department. The above in order to detect in general the probable inconsistencies, problem areas and opportunities in which controls have to be established for their improvement and / or correction, defining priorities and the work mechanics for the preparation of proposals, their analysis and their approval for its application.
b. Safeguard and Legality.
During the process of preparing proposals for the establishment of procedures, rules, policies, etc., it will be vitally important to consider at all times the safeguarding of all the resources available to the company, through the valuation of the purchase of insurance., for example, or through the assignment of internal and external responsible for the custody of the goods, as well as the good use and exploitation of said resources, the confidentiality of the important information of the company, and all those aspects that due to their delicacy require special attention.
For the above, and in general for the application of all the movements that result from the activities of the Comptroller's Office, the criteria used to establish the necessary controls in the company must be reasonably substantiated, always considering the reasons, the procedures and the benefits of what it is intended to achieve. In addition to the above, it must be duly documented in a legal framework that allows managers, partners or shareholders to be assured, mainly, of knowing that they are acting within the statutes of the regulations and current applicable legislation.
c. Operation.
The procedures and techniques applied by the Comptroller to carry out his work will be his operational functions. For this purpose, the Comptroller's performance must be based mainly and strictly on Codes of Ethics, since the profile of his position requires first-hand to address himself impartially, respect and adherence to reason in each of his activities, whenever the regulations, policies and procedures established, will depend largely on the Comptroller's area and specifically on its manager. The Comptroller's operational functions also require order and organization in all senses, in addition to an adequate sequence and follow-up to achieve the stated objectives, which will be given according to the most urgent and / or indispensable priorities for the company..
For an adequate operation in its functions, the Comptroller must also be constantly updated (daily) and trained (eventually) in accounting, tax and financial matters. The aforementioned will allow you to more objectively visualize probable difficulties and / or opportunities to create strategies, prepare budgets with various scenarios and thereby contribute to better decision-making by senior management.
In operations related to the company's business, the role of the Comptroller in the first instance, should be directed towards achieving effectiveness and productivity in said operations, as well as ensuring that they are carried out in the most efficient and timely manner; In conclusion, what will be sought will be to carry out (according to the procedures established for this purpose) the operations (which may also be functions and activities) to achieve a quality product and / or service, by optimizing the times and correct taking advantage of the resources destined for such purpose.
d. Of information.
With regard to information, what is raised is that which the Comptroller himself generates and must use, as well as that which is generally developed throughout the organization.
The information generated and used by the Comptroller will generally be strictly confidential, since it has to do, in most cases, with internal data that will serve as the basis for the preparation of reports, budgets, strategies and projects that are They will elaborate in order to collaborate in better decision making for the most important situations and moments of a company. Therefore, the person in charge of the Comptroller must ethically keep the knowledge he has of all the information of the entity for which he works.
On the other hand, the information developed and generated throughout the organization must be available to the Comptroller, to the extent that such scope has been determined by the top managers of the organization. Therefore, and in general due to the use of internal information by all members of the company, it is advisable to enter into confidentiality agreements with each employee, and thereby ensure the proper use of the information.
It is very important to consider that for a better interpretation of the information, it should be clear and have as much detail as possible, especially in accounting and financial matters, since the above will allow those concepts to be identified more quickly and efficiently. specific where the productivity of the company is being reduced, as well as detecting the probable areas of opportunity and improvement, to increase the profitability of the organization.
There are comprehensive systems that allow the registration of all the information generated by an organization to be detailed, and at present it is a competitive advantage to have unified systems in which the crossing of information is more practical and efficient due to its automation, since having several systems in which you have to migrate or interface the data, will affect the times and security in the handling of information. Therefore, in case of not having a reliable and recognized comprehensive system, it will be convenient to assess the planned implementation of one.
Finally, at this point, it is important to take into account that regardless of the size of the organization, the computing area will play a very important role to achieve the correct implementation, management and use of the systems used for the generation and use of information in of the company, so it should be considered the fact of having in this area discreet and up-to-date professional staff on the matter.
and. Of implementation.
As already mentioned above, the implementation of techniques, procedures, rules and policies to carry out operations and functions by all the members in the work processes of an organization, will depend on various situations. Among the most important are the line of business, the scope of the Controller and the specific objectives that are intended to be achieved.
Hence, once the different areas of the company have been analyzed, as well as its processes and the effectiveness obtained through current procedures and guidelines, it will be necessary to identify those points where the Comptroller's work will focus on the detection and correction of misuse and management, for the improvement and / or renewal of procedures and rules that allow efficient use of resources and obtain the best results. In the Comptroller's work, in order to carry out the above, all internal and external aspects that affect the concept analyzed must be considered in order to be in a position to take into account all the benefits and consequences of what is intended to be implemented.
It is recommended that any implementation that is made, be established in writing and informed to all involved, and has a clear documented rationale that allows an understanding of the reasons why it is being carried out, in addition to clearly specifying the procedures to be followed and the applicable rules and policies, the benefits and the objective of said implementation. As the aforementioned must be previously analyzed and agreed by the managers who apply the decision-making, it is necessary that the authorization of the implementation of a procedure and / or policy is made in writing by means of the autograph signature of those responsible, and acknowledgment of receipt by all informed stakeholders.
F. Evaluation.
One of the integral parts of the Comptroller's work is the one that will allow to know the results of the established procedures, processes, policies and rules. By common sense we can easily know if the objectives were met or not, but it is essential to be able to identify not only if a goal was achieved, but also to be clear in what measure or proportion what was intended was achieved, as well as the factors that intervened to have arrived at the results obtained. Therefore, it will be necessary to have evaluation techniques that, in a few words, tell us the reason for these results, and give us guidelines to correct possible deficiencies or to further improve what has already been implemented.
g. Of Projects.
Finally, and once the results obtained in the Comptroller's work process have been evaluated, either in the review of a single objective or of several together, it will be possible to determine the future projects for the sustainability of the company in the market, projecting the different scenarios in which the organization can fit and defining according to economic and financial estimates the best of destinations. For this purpose, the Comptroller will have to rely on an adequate financial analysis that allows senior managers and members of the board of directors to make the best decision, to remain solid in the market and always seek to be a leading organization in its bouquet.
The projects always constitute, the desire to improve and in some cases, also the purpose of expanding and growing, either in the aspect of sales by opening more branches or establishments, or in the variety of products and services offered to customers.
8. The comptroller based on human sense
We can regularly see that in some organizations the focus given to the Comptroller's Office has to do with changing traditional work schemes and systems by implementing controls that in many cases, those who have to carry them out are not willing to do it because it represents that: A Change. And in this sense, managers in order to achieve the objectives that are required by the owners of companies, partners and shareholders, do "whatever it takes" to obtain them, including ill-treatment, overexploitation, unfair remuneration and even dismissal.
Although it is true that the Comptroller's Office to be effective must be strict and must be carried out with discipline considering the openness to change, it is also true that within the same control techniques, those that have to do with dignified treatment must be implemented and empathy with those responsible (executives, employees and workers) for the execution of the approved procedures, foreseeing that at all times the integrity of the human resource is mainly protected and its development is promoted, both professionally and personally; and taking into account that people represent in any place and situation, the most important resource of an organization.
Therefore, and based on the above, if the most important specific objectives contemplate benefits for this important resource, through an adequate adherence to human principles and values that enhance their work in the company, the correct production process will be largely ensured. of an organization.
9. Conclusions
As can be seen in the development of this work, the performance of a Comptroller within an organization is of great importance, and the proper functioning of the company will depend to a great extent on the implementations that are carried out due to the Comptroller's work, which in turn will depend on the scope that the person in charge of the Comptroller has, as well as the specific objectives for each area or situation that occurs within the entity, which must be established at all times in order to improve and do more efficient and profitable operation of the organization, and thereby meet the expectations of partners and shareholders,at the same time that a decent job is provided to all those who work in the company and quality products and services are granted that allow not only the permanence of the company within the market, but the recognition as an organization of principles and values leader in your bouquet.
Supplementary Notes:
The present work was carried out in order to capture in a practical and synthesized way the criteria that a server has regarding the functions of a Controller within a company, and is based on the reading of several articles related to the topic of Internal Control, as well as the experience acquired during the professional and labor career.
Bibliographic references:
• Article: "The Comptroller, responsibility and functions"
Dr. Alfonso García Martínez
Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences
www.ur.mx
• Article:
Anonymous Internal Control
www.monographies.com
• Article: The
Rebeca Martínez Inventory ([email protected])
www.monographies.com
