Internal Controls
Internal controls ensure the integrity of the disbursement system. Segregation
of duties can help protect a government’s funds and can be achieved by
separating various functions of the disbursement process. Duties such as
authorization of payments and disbursement processing should be segregated.
The employee who enters disbursement requests into the accounts payable
system should not distribute checks. This level of segregation may be difficult
to achieve for smaller entities with one person overseeing the finance function.
However, any level of segregation that can be achieved will provide added
protection to the organization.