Current trends of organizations’ internal control systems. Implications for Public Administrations

Abstract

The Spanish public administration has a well established system of internal control, whose essential elements were set up in the late 19th century, which brings up the question of whether there are more ways of understanding internal control that could be more adequate to deal with the current administrations’ size and complexity. This paper examines current trends of internal control taking its references from such reports as Treadway (1987) and the COSO (1992-1994) concept framework; it analyzes the content of these reports and their practical application in both public companies and public administrations in USA, the European Commission and EU member states. Finally it assesses the Spanish administrations internal control systems from a COSO model perspective and raises debate about the necessity to reform the current system.