A control measure consisting in the separation of potentially conflicting functions, namely the authorization, approval, execution, control, and accounting record, must be assigned to different persons or departments in order to prevent the occurrence or dissimulation of errors.
Published in Chapter:
Internal Control in a Public Hospital: The Case of Financial Services Expenditure Department
Ana Cristina Vaz Pires Morim (University of Aveiro, Portugal),
Helena Inácio (University of Aveiro, Portugal), and Elisabete Vieira (University of Aveiro, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2018
|Pages: 26
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-3731-1.ch005
Abstract
Internal control (IC) is receiving increasing attention at the level of public administration including the hospitals of the National Health Service. It is seen as a privileged instrument of management, administration and control, which provides an increase of efficiency and effectiveness, a greater information reliability and compliance with legal standards. In this chapter, the authors intended to analyze existing procedures and controls in the Financial Sector of Public Hospitals, in particular the expenditure department, and taking into account the human, material and technical resources available to effect systematization of control practices and the identification of key IC system vulnerabilities. Using the information collected by interviews and documentary analysis between December 2014 and 2015, a set of actions is proposed in order to mitigate the vulnerabilities of the procedures studied, as well as the structure for a manual of IC procedures, applicable to the expenditure department as an instrument to promote the legality and efficiency of the management of public funds.