Internal Controls Consulting

Internal controls are the policies, procedures, and processes that management puts in place to ensure reliable financial reporting, operational effectiveness, and compliance with laws and regulations. Internal audit is an independent function that assesses whether those controls are designed appropriately and operating effectively. You need internal controls before internal audit has anything to assess. Corviniti focuses primarily on designing and implementing the controls themselves.

Yes — but the right controls for a small company look very different from those of a large public company. A small company typically needs a focused set of controls covering the highest-risk areas: financial close and reporting, cash management, procurement authorization, and payroll. These do not need to be elaborate, but they do need to be real — actually executed, documented, and reviewed. We design controls appropriate for your size.

A risk and control matrix (RCM) documents the key financial reporting risks in each business process and maps them to the specific controls that address those risks. For each control, the RCM describes what the control is, who performs it, how often, and what evidence it produces. RCMs are the primary documentation auditors use when they test ICFR — having well-prepared RCMs significantly reduces the time and cost of external audits.

Full segregation of duties — separating the authorization, recording, and custody functions — is not always feasible for smaller companies with limited staff. In those situations, we design compensating controls that address the same risks: management review of transactions, independent reconciliations, exception reporting, and oversight by the board or audit committee. The goal is to achieve the same level of risk mitigation through different means.

At minimum, a pre-IPO company needs documented controls over the financial close process, revenue recognition, accounts payable, payroll, treasury, and equity accounting. It also needs entity-level controls — a documented control environment, a risk assessment process, and management oversight mechanisms. IT general controls are increasingly important as companies rely more heavily on financial systems. We help identify the specific controls your auditors will expect and ensure they are implemented and operational before the audit.

For a typical growth-stage company, a full internal controls design and documentation project takes eight to twelve weeks — covering process documentation, risk assessment, control design, and RCM preparation. Implementation of the controls (making them operational and training the team) adds additional time depending on the changes required. For companies with a tight timeline, we prioritize the highest-risk areas and work in phases.

Yes. We regularly work with foreign private issuers and companies with cross-border structures, including IFRS reporting, US GAAP reconciliations, and multi-entity consolidations for companies with domestic and international subsidiaries.

In most cases, we can begin within a few days of finalizing our agreement. Our onboarding process is straightforward — a brief discovery session, a clear statement of work, and secure access setup. We do not have lengthy intake procedures that delay the start of actual work.