Author: Liu Dayong Li Cuixia Article Source: Business Research, No.05, 2008

The core of modern enterprise management system is to improve the corporate governance structure, and a good corporate governance structure is the basic element to improve the efficiency of enterprise management. Scientific and effective internal control system is a powerful guarantee for modern enterprises to achieve their business objectives. As a series of rules, policies and procedures formulated by management authorities to achieve management objectives, internal control is inseparable from corporate governance and corporate management.

Keywords: modern enterprise; Internal control; Institutional research

China library classification number: F224.32 document identification number: a.

Enterprise internal control system

1. College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin150030;

2. School of Economics and Management, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China)

abstract:

The core of modern enterprise management system is to improve corporate governance structure, and excellent corporate governance structure is the key to improve enterprise management efficiency. Scientific and effective internal control system is a powerful guarantee for modern enterprises to achieve their business objectives. Internal control system is a series of rules, policies and procedures formulated by management authorities to achieve their management objectives, which is closely related to the control and management of the company.

Internal control system is the product of social and economic development to a certain stage, and it is an important means of modern enterprise management. The author makes a necessary study on the evolution of enterprise internal control system and China's internal control system.

First, the evolution of the concept of internal control system

The first stage: the generation stage. The initial form of internal control is internal containment, that is, maintaining the safety and integrity of enterprise property and materials, ensuring the correctness of accounting materials and other related materials, and ensuring the rationality and legitimacy of various financial revenues and expenditures. With the development of social economy and the emergence and application of modern scientific management methods, the scope of internal containment has been expanding, and it has gradually developed into many fields such as the establishment and implementation of enterprise decision-making objectives, the realization and evaluation of economic benefits.

The second stage: the development stage from 1950s to 1980s. 1949, the American audit procedure Committee published a research report on "various elements of internal control-adjusting organization and its importance to management authorities and independent auditors", which formally put forward the definition of internal control for the first time, that is, "internal control includes the system plan adopted within the enterprise and all relevant adjustment methods and measures, aiming at protecting the assets of the enterprise, checking the accuracy and reliability of accounting data, improving economic benefits and prompting relevant personnel to follow the established management policies. The definition of internal control here is not limited to the relevant functions of accounting and accounting departments.

The third stage: from 1980s to now, the stage of perfection. 1988 The American Auditing Standards Board issued the No.55 standard "Consideration of Internal Control Structure in the Audit of Financial Statements", which changed the method of defining internal control by internal control objectives and adopted the method of internal control components. This announcement no longer distinguishes between accounting control and management control, nor does it define it from the perspective of enterprises. Instead, it defines internal control from the perspective of auditors' audit of financial statements, and puts forward the concept of internal control structure, that is, various policies and procedures established to provide reasonable protection for the established goals of real enterprises, including control environment, accounting system, control policies and procedures. This is a significant development of internal control concept, which not only meets the requirements of enterprise management at that time, but also promotes the progress of audit.

65438-0993 COSO report put forward and adopted by American Auditing Standards Board divides internal control into five parts, namely: control environment; Risk assessment by management; Accounting information and communication system; Control activities and supervision. This is the inheritance and development of the definition of 1988, and it is also the concept of modern internal control. 1996, American auditing standards No.78 also adopts this definition, that is, "internal control is a process influenced by the board of directors, senior management, government management and other relevant personnel of the unit, aiming at providing reasonable guarantee for achieving the objectives of operational effectiveness and efficiency, reliability of financial reports and compliance with appropriate laws and regulations." This is by far the most perfect definition of the concept of internal control.

To sum up, the internal control system refers to a management system in which the administrative leaders of enterprises and relevant personnel of various management departments contact and restrict each other when dealing with production and business activities, including a series of necessary management measures to ensure the normal operation of enterprises. The focus of the internal control system is strict accounting management, reasonable and effective organization and post division, standardized business process and clear post responsibilities.

According to its scope of action, it can be roughly divided into the following two aspects: (1) internal accounting control. Its scope directly involves all aspects of accounting business, mainly refers to all kinds of accounting treatment procedures and control measures formulated by the accounting department to prevent illegal acts such as embezzlement of property and protect the safety of enterprise property. (2) Internal management control. The scope involves all departments, levels and links of enterprise production, technology, operation and management. Its purpose is to improve the management level of enterprises and ensure the implementation of business objectives and related policies.

Second, the status quo of China's internal control system

Since the 1990s, our government has begun to strengthen the standardization of internal control in enterprises, and formulated and promulgated a series of relevant laws, regulations and norms, as shown in Table 1.

However, for our country, the comprehensive understanding of internal control has just begun, and the distortion of accounting information, business failure and illegal operation are largely attributed to the failure of internal control in enterprises.

Generally speaking, China enterprises are generally aware of the importance of internal control, but their understanding of internal control is not enough; Pay attention to combing the external environment of enterprises, while ignoring the constraints of internal links and posts; Pay attention to the procedure control of business links, but ignore the overall coordination of enterprises; Focus on the study of internal control system, while ignoring the improvement of the quality of system implementers; Pay attention to the control of money and objects, but ignore the construction of corporate cultural environment. The main problems can be summarized into two aspects:

(A) the control environment is weak

Control environment is the basis of internal control, which is directly related to the implementation and execution of internal control in enterprises. It covers all kinds of factors that affect the establishment, strengthening or weakening of specific policy procedures and their efficiency, including the conduct, morality, values, quality and ability of enterprise managers, management philosophy and concept of managers, various rules and regulations, information communication system and performance evaluation mechanism of enterprises, etc. China enterprises have very serious problems in this respect, mainly manifested in:

1. The internal control consciousness of enterprise management is weak. Most enterprises have not formulated a perfect and written internal control system, which reflects that at least a considerable number of enterprises do not realize the importance of internal control. Even if the enterprises have established the corresponding internal control system, most of them are just superficial articles written on paper and posted on the wall, and there are many problems in the implementation of the system.

2. The organizational structure is unreasonable. Many enterprises still follow the institutional setup under the planned economy system, and there are many problems in enterprises, such as bloated institutions, many management levels and low work efficiency. In addition, enterprises pay more attention to the vertical relationship of rights and obligations, but not enough attention to horizontal coordination, which leads to the lack of necessary communication between departments at the same level, insensitive information communication and poor coordination.

3. The enterprise system is not perfect. First, enterprises lack corresponding incentive and restraint mechanisms. For example, the amount of risk paid by the factory director (manager) is only symbolic and cannot put pressure on them. Most business leaders can't bear the responsibility of self-management and self-financing. Once something goes wrong, the state will still bear the losses. Business operators may use their power to embezzle assets or squander money for selfish motives. In order to satisfy this desire, some operators will not pay attention to the construction of internal control, or even deliberately ignore or obstruct it, which in turn aggravates the imperfection of the enterprise system and forms a vicious circle. Second, personnel policies and practices are not perfect. Recruiters have not passed strict examination, and many of them are squeezed into enterprises by relationships; A set of training, treatment, performance appraisal and promotion system for employees has not been formed; Failing to conduct appropriate moral education for employees according to different situations. The competence and integrity of enterprise employees are questionable. Even with good internal control, the due effect will not be achieved because of weak executive ability or moral corruption. Third, the enterprise system is not comprehensive, and all links and departments of enterprise management have not formulated corresponding rules and regulations, which is a serious phenomenon.

4. The quality of managers is low. The quality of managers in many enterprises is low, and they generally have no formal professional education, and enterprises have not conducted management training for these managers. Even if such low-quality managers have the quality of serving the enterprise wholeheartedly, they can't really manage the enterprise because of their limited ability.

5. Corporate culture construction has not attracted enough attention. Corporate culture is the combination of * * and values on which an enterprise's business philosophy and management system depend. The implementation of enterprise internal control system depends on the support and maintenance of enterprise culture construction. Because corporate culture is an institutional constraint to cultivate honesty, loyalty, helpfulness and diligence. Corporate culture is the unity and integration of employees' ideas, ways of thinking and behaviors, which organically combines the embodiment of employees' own values with the realization of enterprise development goals. Corporate culture is the central nerve of the enterprise, which dominates people's way of thinking and behavior. The internal control system based on a good corporate culture will inevitably become people's code of conduct, thus solving various problems caused by system failure.

(B) The internal control department of the enterprise has asymmetric responsibilities and rights, and the internal control supervision is weak.

Enterprise internal control includes internal management control and internal accounting control, while China's internal control mainly refers to internal accounting control. As the main implementing departments of internal control, accounting and auditing departments have serious asymmetry of responsibilities and rights.

1. The internal audit department exists in name only. As an important part of internal control, internal audit is the self-demand of enterprises to improve their management level and economic benefits. However, in China, the internal audit of enterprises has not really performed its due functions, and its existing problems mainly include:

(1) Involuntary formation. As we all know, China's current internal audit is mainly developed on the basis of administrative intervention, with a strong color of administrative orders. It is difficult for enterprises to attach importance to this internal audit institution that relies too much on administrative intervention. Most of the internal auditors of the enterprises under investigation are transferred from the accounting department or concurrently from the accounting department or from other departments. Some of them have not received special training and lack audit expertise, and the internal audit department has become the department where enterprises place cadres. In this case, the established internal audit is difficult to play its due role.

(2) Lack of independence. As the re-control of internal control, internal audit itself should re-supervise the economic supervision of enterprises objectively and fairly from the standpoint of a third party, and its position should be detached and independent. At present, the definition of internal audit department is "under the direct leadership of the main person in charge of the unit, independently exercise the power of internal audit supervision, be responsible for the unit leaders and report their work". This shows that the internal audit in China only serves the person in charge of the enterprise. In this way, internal audit can neither supervise the boss nor the same level, because all functional departments within the enterprise work under the direct leadership of the person in charge of the enterprise, and most of their business activities, especially major business activities, are carried out under the authorization of the factory director and manager, which is a direct embodiment of the will of the factory director and manager. In this case, how does the internal audit work? Based on the above two points, internal audit can't be detached and independent, and its scope of work is greatly limited, so it is difficult to win prestige.

(3) Pay more attention to audit supervision than service construction. Internal audit is established to meet the internal needs of enterprises, and the key to its survival and development lies in whether it can strengthen internal management and improve economic benefits for enterprises. However, in practice, internal audit ignores the function of preventing errors and abuse, overemphasizes the investigation of errors and abuse, and emphasizes "supervision" more than "service" in various official documents. Emphasis on "post supervision", advocating "supervision before and during the event" is less. This over-emphasis on post supervision's guiding ideology is a big misunderstanding in China's auditing knowledge, and it is also an important ideological factor that hinders the internal audit from playing its role.

(4) Do not understand the nature and function of internal audit. Enterprise managers often confuse "internal audit supervision" with "accounting supervision", which makes people think that "internal audit of enterprises is meaningless" Due to the misunderstanding of the guiding ideology, most auditors failed to put themselves in a correct position. Some people equate themselves with the behavior tools of the factory director and manager, and act according to the will of the factory director and manager everywhere. Some people are disheartened or act as good people because of their poor work, which makes the internal audit ineffective.

2. The responsibilities and rights are not equal. Equality of rights, obligations and responsibilities is one of the basic principles of internal control. At present, it is clear in relevant laws and regulations that internal control institutions not only perform administrative supervision duties on behalf of the state, but also provide services for enterprise leaders to strengthen management and improve economic efficiency. This theoretical two-way service mechanism determines that the economic responsibility and obligation of internal control institutions are greater than their actual functions and powers, which can only put internal control institutions in a dilemma.

Third, on strengthening China's internal control system

Enterprise internal control is a systematic project, involving all aspects of the enterprise. As a system construction, the more objective elements it has, the more scientific it will be. The construction of internal control should also adhere to the principle of close integration of theory and practice, and formulate an internal control system that can target the characteristics of enterprises, rather than the same.

(A) standardize the corporate governance structure, the formation of the rule of law mechanism, law enforcement must be strict, violators are prosecuted.

To implement internal control, we must first standardize the corporate governance structure. From the owner's point of view, we should not only bring the process of enterprise managers exercising power into the scope of internal control, but also take it as the key monitoring object of internal control, clarify the responsibilities of shareholders' meeting, board of directors, board of supervisors and managers, so that the decision-making system, management system and supervision system can perform their respective duties, operate in coordination and check and balance effectively.

1. Implementing the appointment system of chief financial officer is an important means to improve internal control. The chief financial officer first grasps the operation of the accounting system through the leadership and control of the accounting department and accounting personnel of the unit, and has the right to approve major transactions and asset changes of the unit; Secondly, by hosting regular and irregular internal audits, we can find out the existing or potential problems in enterprise management and accounting in time and take corresponding measures. Although in practical work, there are many emissaries who are guided by the personal will of managers because of the differences between the personal qualities of managers and the qualities of chief financial officers, as long as the control responsibility is clear and there are control subjects representing different interest groups, good results will be achieved.

2. Establish a strict enterprise internal control system. The internal control system of an enterprise should include three relatively independent control levels: the first level is the "supply, production and sales" of the front line of the enterprise, which is integrated into the system of mutual containment and restriction throughout the whole process, and a monitoring defense line based on prevention is established. When engaged in business, the relevant personnel must be clear about the business handling authority and the responsibilities they should bear. All general business or direct contact with customers must be reviewed. It is best to implement the double signing system for important business, and it is forbidden for one person to handle the whole business process independently. The second level is to set up post supervision, that is, on the basis of routine accounting by the accounting department, to conduct routine and regular verification of its posts and business, and to establish a monitoring defense line based on "blocking". Post supervision can set up corresponding professional posts in the accounting department, and be equipped with personnel with strong sense of responsibility and comprehensive working ability to hold the post, which should be included in the procedural and standardized management, and directly feedback the supervision process and results to the person in charge of the financial department on a regular basis. The third level is to set up an audit committee directly managed by the board of directors and independent of the audited department on the basis of the existing audit, auditing and discipline inspection departments. The Audit Committee implements internal control over the accounting department by means of routine internal audit, outgoing audit, reporting, supervision and review of enterprise accounting statements, and establishes an effective supervision defense line based on "inspection".

The internal control system constructed at the above three levels will play a role of "preventing, blocking and checking" for the economic business and accounting departments of enterprises, and play an important role in finding problems in time and preventing and resolving the business risks and accounting risks of enterprises.

3. Strengthen the control of "people", the subject of internal control behavior, and implement the internal control work. When the internal control of an enterprise fails, business risks and accounting risks arise, and all actors are "people". Only by being consistent from top to bottom, communicating in time and mastering the thoughts, motives and behaviors of relevant personnel at any time can we do a good job in internal control. Specifically, in addition to the leadership itself should set an example, but also should do the following work:

First, grasp the ideological and behavioral status of internal control personnel in enterprises in a timely manner. Internal business personnel and accounting personnel must have their motives for breaking the law and discipline. Therefore, business leaders and department heads should regularly analyze the thoughts and behaviors of personnel in key positions, focus on whether they have gambling, stock trading, business, contact with social misdeeds and pursue extraordinary consumption, and grasp the external causes that may make relevant personnel commit crimes, so as to take measures to prevent and control them.

Second, conduct professional ethics education and business training for internal control personnel. Professional ethics education should strengthen the education of internal control behavior subject "people" in law and discipline, anti-corruption and honesty, enhance self-restraint ability, consciously implement various laws and regulations, abide by financial discipline, abide by law and discipline, be honest and self-disciplined; To strengthen continuing education, we should pay special attention to the training of basic business knowledge for people with poor business ability, improve their working ability and reduce technical mistakes in business handling.

(B) "Coordination" as the basic goal of enterprise internal control under the dual control subject, and "constraint+incentive" as the main method to guide the behavior of operators.

1. In modern enterprises with dual control subjects, the most prominent contradictions are "inconsistent interests" and "asymmetric information". Enterprise owners hope to increase the value of assets and maximize the value of enterprises through operating profits, but they can't directly manage their operations and can only indirectly control them through accounting information; Operators "directly" control the process of enterprise operation and the way of generating and reporting accounting information. Therefore, it is decided that the primary and basic goal of enterprise internal control under the framework of dual control subjects should be to coordinate the interests and contradictions of both parties. Only through effective coordination can we find the balance between owners and operators, and the above two basic goals of internal control of modern enterprises can be realized.

2. "Constraint+incentive" is the main method to guide operators' behavior and an effective way for modern enterprises to achieve the internal control goal of "coordination" of dual control subjects. Social supervision institutions such as finance, taxation, banking and auditing. Being fragmented, it failed to form a joint force of comprehensive supervision, and its deterrent effect on enterprises was not enough.

3. The independent supervision and impartiality of the audit are not paid enough attention, and the audit has not been standardized, legalized and regularized. The punishment for finding out the problem is often not aimed at people, but human feelings, and the rigidity of law enforcement is distorted.