Internal financial control is a must: Experts at CII seminar

Internal financial controls are a must not only to detect and curb fraud but also to maximise companies' resources, say experts.
According to P R Ramesh, Chairman, Deloitte India, internal financial control measure is not a destination, but a continuous process.
"Internal controls provide a reasonable assurance for the management to prevent fraud," Ramesh said at a seminar on 'Internal Financial Controls (IFC) and Fraud Detection' organised by CII here today.
Chairman, Governance Task Force, CII, Eastern Region and Managing Director, Linde India Ltd, Moloy Banerjee, strongly advocated adopting IFC measures saying it increases organisations' effectiveness in operations, which in turn boosts investors' confidence.

According to him, internal controls should be dynamic in nature and must be designed as per requirements.
"A robust risk management system is an absolute necessity," Banerjee said.

"IFC should be implemented through a system-driven approach for which training programmes should be conducted for capacity building," he added.
Anirban Datta, Chairman, Institute of Chartered Accounts of India, EIRC, said, "The auditors should update themselves on the practices involved."
Speaking on the occasion, Senior Partner, Walker Chandoik & Co. LLP Khushroo B Panthaky said fraud was the result of an inadequate internal control.
"Adequate designing of control measures are necessary to lower fraud risks. The management and the auditors should be responsible to check the adequacy of the existing control measures in the organization," he said.

Executive Vice President and Head, Corporate Account, ITC Ltd, Saradindu Dutta, gave insights on how the challenges of implementing IFC framework could be addressed.