Enhancing Security and Efficiency: Implementing Segregation of Duties in Core Business Processes.
Segregation of duties (SOD) is the cornerstone of strong internal control. The inability to maintain proper SOD can hamper an organization's ability to deliver service efficiently. Personnel often struggle with the proper concepts of what contributes to SOD. When resources are scarce, the concept is even more difficult.
A separate course titled “Segregation of Duties for the Office of the CFO” highlighted why and how the Office of the CFO should pay special attention to the segregation of duties (SOD). This course will delve deeper into core business processes and examine the concepts of which duties should be segregated to provide adequate internal control.
The basics of segregation of duties indicate that no one individual should be given or assigned job functions in more than one of the following categories:
This course will examine each of the following business processes and discuss key roles/tasks that should be evaluated for proper segregation of duties:
Prerequisites and Advanced Preparation
Suggested completion of the module on Segregation of Duties for the Office of the CFO
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
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