The Benefits of Segregation of Duties Controls

Summary

In my last post, we discussed the concept of implementing internal controls to mitigate risk. Segregation of duties is a fundamental control to consider when managing risk.

Content

What is Segregation of Duties (SoD)?

The key principle of segregation of duties is that an individual or small group of individuals should not be in a position to control all components of a transaction or business process. The general duties to be segregated are: planning/initiation, authorization, custody of assets, and recording or reporting of transactions. In addition, control tasks such as review, audit, and reconcile should not be performed by the same individual responsible for recording or reporting the transaction. Adequate segregation of duties controls reduces the likelihood that errors (intentional or unintentional) will remain undetected by implementing separate processing by different individuals at various