Internal control is the process designed, and effected by, those charged with governance and management, to provide reasonable assurance about:
the achievement of the entity’s objectives with regard to reliability of financial reporting;
the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations and
the entity’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations
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The auditor’s primary consideration is whether, and how, a specific control prevents, or detects and corrects, material misstatements in the financial statements, rather than its classification into any particular component.
control activities are the policies and procedures that help ensure that management directives are carried out, e.g. that actions are taken to address risks that threaten the achievement of the entity’s objectives.