The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission has released an exposure draft document offering guidance on monitoring internal control systems.
Developed by COSO - a group of five accounting organizations including the American Institute of CPAs, the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Accounting Association, Financial Executives International and the Institute of Internal Auditors - and led by a team from Grant Thornton, the guidance builds on principles developed by COSO in 2006 and public input from a discussion document that COSO released in September 2007.
The exposure draft includes the fundamentals of monitoring and an in-depth examination of various types of information that could be used to monitor the effectiveness of internal controls. It also includes examples of effective monitoring from a wide variety of organizations observed by Grant Thornton.
The project has an oversight task force consisting of representatives from COSO's five sponsoring organizations and other experts; participation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office; representatives from audit firms and both large and small companies; and project observers from both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
COSO has set up a feedback portal through which it is soliciting comments on the exposure draft until August 15. The final release of the project is scheduled for the fall of 2008. For more information, visit
