Information & Communication is necessary for the entity to carry out internal control responsibilities to support the achievement of objectives.  Management generates and uses relevant and quality information from both internal and external sources to support the functioning of internal control.  Communication is considered a continual and iterative process of providing, sharing and obtaining necessary information.  Information and Communication is the fourth component in the COSO framework.

COSO 2013 maintained the same five components previously identified within the 1992 framework.  These include:

• Control Environment
• Risk Assessment
• Control Activities
• Information & Communication
• Monitoring

This COSO training course is designed to focus on the Information and Communication  component and the three separate principles that support this component. 

Information and Communication stands at the heart of any company.  It incorporates not just verbal communication but also a company’s IT infrastructure.

• Principle 13: The organization uses relevant information. (5 POF)
• Principle 14: Internal communication is effective.            (4 POF)
• Principle 15:  External communication is sufficient.         (5 POF)

The course dissects the three principles and important concepts that companies need to understand and support in order to prove that the principles are in place and functioning.  We also discuss concepts related to mapping the principles to controls within the organization.

Management and the external auditors must understand each of these principles and be able to adequately support that they exist, are appropriately designed and functioning.  In addition, the components must effectively work in combination to provide for a positive attestation to internal controls.

“Citations of information on the COSO framework, principles and points of focus mentioned through this course are directly worded from the COSO literature and relayed here with the permission of COSO.org as a training mechanism related to their framework. The full document of the Framework can be found at COSO.org”.