Read this if you are a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Information Officer, or Controller.
While COVID-19 has forced many of us into a remote work environment, we also have to deal with the challenges that come along with it. The stark contrast between an office environment and one that potentially involves working in isolation can be a difficult adjustment. Office kitchen conversations have evolved into conversations with pets, our newest co-workers. A quick, in-person question has now turned into an email, phone, or video call. And job responsibilities expand as we try to not only juggle work but also ensure our children focus on school work―and don’t destroy the house.
Not only has this forced environment caused social challenges, it has also opened the door for internal control challenges, as internal controls designed to operate effectively in an office environment may not be ideal for a remote workplace. Even ones that are appropriately designed, may prove to be operating ineffectively in this new environment. Let’s take a look at some internal control challenges, and potential solutions, faced by working in a remote environment.
Establishing a remote control environment
Exercising appropriate tone at the top and establishing appropriate oversight can be challenging with a remote workforce. Ethics and governance policies play an important role in setting clear expectations about workplace behaviors. But, a workforce is much more apt to follow a leadership team’s example rather than a policy. All of those office conversations, even the conversations that are not work related, help set an expectation of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. These conversations often happen naturally in the office via a quick conversation in passing in the hallway or a late-Friday happy hour with your department. However, these interactions do not naturally occur in a remote workplace. Leadership and department heads should make an active effort to maintain communication with their workforce. Some things to consider:
- Send out weekly emails to the entire department and possibly more personal, one-on-one videoconferences or phone calls between your department heads or managers and individual members of their teams.
- These department-wide emails should stress the importance of communication as well as continuing to produce high quality work and maintaining accountability.
- One-on-one meetings should be used to check in with employees to ensure their work needs are being met.
Employees will most likely have many suggestions to improve their new work environment, including suggestions on how to improve communication amongst team members.
The power of video
Videoconferencing also provides a great opportunity to stay connected. Virtual happy hours simulate an in-person happy hour. This is a great way to check-in with team members and show that, although people are out of sight, they are not out of mind. Town hall-type meetings can also be explored. Your leadership team can solicit open discussion. Agenda items may include office status updates, technological considerations, and an opportunity for employees to openly discuss current challenges due to working in a remote environment. Employees are going to have anxiety about the current environment. These meetings can help put employees at ease.
Risk assessment
Internal control environments are constantly evolving. Employees leave. Software is updated. Offered services and products change. The list goes on. However, it is unprecedented that an internal control environment has changed so rapidly. Given these unprecedented times, there is potential for higher risk of fraud, internally and externally. Those responsible for designing internal controls (control owners) should reassess your company’s environment. Although internal controls can be designed in a manner in which they operate effectively regardless of the circumstances, it is possible there are unintended changes to processes that have occurred.
For instance, let’s say the employee responsible for reviewing loan file maintenance changes is now working an alternative work schedule due to personal obligations. This employee does not have the ability to make loan file changes; therefore, segregation of duties has never been an issue. An employee within loan servicing has agreed to take some of the employee’s responsibilities and is now reviewing some of the loan file maintenance changes, which has put this employee in a position to review some of their own changes.
Furthermore, some internal controls that require employees be at a physical location to operate may also be compromised, such as inventory cycle counts. If these controls are unable to operate, control owners will need to consider the impacts on the affected transaction areas, and if there are compensating controls that can be designed to alleviate some of the control risk.
Control activities
Accounts payable and check signing
The accounts payable and cash disbursement process will most likely be upended as a result of your new remote environment. Bills received through the mail will need to be scanned to the accounts payable clerk for entry into the accounting system. Some offices have designated certain personnel responsible for checking mail on an infrequent basis, for instance, weekly. Check signing may also prove to be a challenge as blank check stock may be inaccessible. Electronic receipt of invoices and signing of checks, as well as the use of wire and ACH transfers, lend themselves as feasible solutions. Email approvals may suffice when multiple signers are needed to approve high dollar disbursements.
Segregation of duties
As mentioned above, it is possible processes have inadvertently changed, exposing certain internal controls to ineffectiveness. Segregation of duties may become difficult as employees shift to alternative work schedules or have other issues. Maintaining segregation of duties should be a top priority for control owners and is something that should be constantly assessed as circumstances change. Challenging times may make segregation of duties difficult and may force you to get creative by requesting employees perform duties they are not otherwise accustomed to performing.
Digital sign-offs
You should also consider the manner in which you document the completion of controls. Control owners should be cautious about the integrity of an employee’s initials simply typed onto a digital document, as any employee can perform this task. Digital signatures, which require an employee to enter credentials prior to signing, enhance the integrity of a sign-off and are often time stamped. Digital signatures may also “lock down” the document, prohibiting any changes to the signed document.
Timely review
Given the circumstances, it is not unreasonable that preparation and review may take longer than under normal circumstances. Even if additional time is granted for the preparation and review of documents, you should consider the implications this has on the transaction class as a whole. The longer it takes to complete a control, the greater the consequences may be if you identify an error. For instance, the impact of an incorrect change to a loan rate index can be substantial if not identified timely. If identified quickly, you can avoid consequences later.
Information and communication
For many companies that have moved from a paper to a digital environment, sharing of information should not be an issue. However, for those that still operate in a mostly paper environment, performing tasks and sharing information with team members may prove to be difficult. And, those without the capability of scanning and sending documents from home could compromise a specific internal control altogether. Being forced to work remotely may be the perfect excuse to move paper processes into a digital format.
Monitoring
Monitoring your internal control environment is of the utmost importance given these significant changes. Frequent conversations should be had with control owners to ensure changes to processes do not render controls ineffective. Identified gaps in internal controls should be addressed proactively. Provide control owners with the opportunity to discuss changes to control processes with Internal Audit or Risk Management so such departments can consider the impact of changes on internal control. This also gives these departments the opportunity to cover any resulting gaps.
Permanent changes
Once the remote workplace requirements end, the effects of working in such an environment will not. There are many benefits and efficiencies to be found in working remotely. As people have now been forced to work in such an environment, they will be more apt to continue to do so. Therefore, let’s take this opportunity to revise processes and internal controls to be “remote workplace” compatible. This will provide a long-lasting impact to your organization far beyond the pandemic.