Ethics Reporting Auburn University has contracted with an outside provider, Ethicspoint, Inc. of Portland, Oregon to receive reports regarding concerns over financial irregularities (and similar ethics related matters) and NCAA violations. To file a report, click the Ethics Hotline link or read the FAQ for more information. Ethics Hotline Frequently Asked Quesions How to File a Report Executive Director, Kevin Robinson, CIA, CFE Case In Point: Lessons for the pro-active manager June 2009 "Internal Control" -- the mere mention of the term prompts you toward inspiration, motivation, and generally positive thoughts. Well, probably not. In fact, you probably think of how boring the topic is, and if so, you are completely normal. In my view, as auditors, we have done a really poor job explaining what internal controls are and why they are important. Yet internal controls are very important to your operation and not nearly as complicated as we auditors sometimes make them. You use internal controls every day in your personal life. Do you lock your house before coming to work? If so, then you are using an internal control to safeguard the assets you own. Do you keep your PIN number secret? If so, you are using internal controls. In fact, the bank gives you internal control suggestions when they tell you not to write the PIN on your card and to destroy the mailing with the PIN. All these simple things make a lot of sense, and most of the time the internal controls needed in your area will too. Evaluating what could go wrong (or cause us not to achieve some objective) and then thinking of ways we can reduce that risk are at the heart of good internal controls. As a manager, the internal controls in your area belong to you. Part of fiduciary responsibility is ensuring strong internal controls are in place to prevent fraud, compliance failure, or other problems. Each month in this publication you read of internal control failures. We hope you can learn from these events throughout higher education so you can be a pro-active risk manager here at Auburn University. So, once again we suggest you ask the question, "What can I do to prevent this from happening here?" We also suggest that you share this with your staff and emphasize the importance of strong internal control and pro-active risk management. (more) Departmental Information      Staff      Mission      Charter           History      Code of Ethics      Confidentiality Statement Resources for Departments      Internal Auditing - FAQ      Internal Controls - FAQ      FERPA Self-Assessment      Presentations       Case In Point      AU Guide to Internal Controls           Cash Collections Links      AU Policies and Procedures      AU Compliance Related Areas      External Resources

Latest IT Security News You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz (InfoWorld) 07/03/2009 Symantec Releases Norton 2010 Betas (PC Magazine) 07/02/2009 Conficker: Forgotten but not Gone (PC World) 07/02/2009 Court Orders Spammers to Pay $3.7 Million (PC World) 07/02/2009 Celebrity Deaths Drive Spam, with Jackson Pervasive (NewsFactor) 07/02/2009 Warning over Michael Jackson email virus (AFP) 07/02/2009 Chinese Security Company Shares Huge Malware Database (PC World) 07/02/2009