Identity Controls
Management must identify one or more controls that will protect the company from each event. In evaluating the benefits of specific internal control procedures. management should consider their effectiveness and timing. All other factors being equal. a preventive control is superior to a detective one. However, if preventive controls fail, detective controls are essential for discovering the problem. and controls help corrective recover from the problem. Thus. preventive, detective, and corrective controls complement each other, and a good internal control system should all three. Similarly. employ a company should make use of the four levers of control discussed earlier in the chapter.
Estimate Costs and Benefits
No internal control system can provide foolproof protection against all events. as the cost would be prohibitive. In addition. because many controls negatively affect operational efficiency. too many controls slow the system and make it inefficient. Therefore, the objective in designing an internal control is to provide.at an affordable cost system and without unduly slowing the system. reasonable assurance that events and other control problems do not take place.