Describing Internal Controls and Objective categorization

Internal controls may be described in terms of:

•  the objective they pertain to
•  the nature of the control activity itself.

Objetives:

• Existence (Validity): Only valid or authorized transactions are processed. 
• Occurrence (Cutoff): Transactions occurred during the correct period or were processed timely.
• Completeness: All transactions are processed that should be (i.e., no omissions)
• Valuation: Transactions are calculated using an appropriate methodology or are computationally accurate.