The Effective Controller In The 21St Century by Yanyong Thammatucharee.
Category: Business, Finance & Law
Paperback: 324 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 1439217424

"In this day and age, an effective internal control system is a very critical key to survival of any company. Companies must ensure that their success is safeguarded by the establishment of reliable control systems to be followed by all employees. The management may define success using different achievement indicators - profitability, market share, cost position, return on investment, etc. But any of these success measurements can be vulnerable to risk. The success of a company depends on hiring capable people who efficiently fulfil different job functions such as production, sales and marketing, purchasing, accounting and so on. Thus, it is important to take great care in selecting the best people for the company - people who will work closely together in exerting effort and dedication to achieve the desired results.

The Asian financial crisis in 1997, which started first in Thailand, raised a question about the transparency of information to businesspeople and stakeholders. Accounting roles and many have called for changes. As a result, the accounting standards were reviewed, improved, and officially announced. Now reliable and accurate accounting information is expected by a variety of parties such as bank creditors, private companies and government agencies. Consequently, accountants in many organization have had to adapt to better meet the requirements from all stakeholders.

At the turn on the 21st century, we have seen the shocking collapse of several global companies. The causes are mainly related to accounting fraud resulting from intentionally manipulative acts such as wrong bookings, misstatements or misleading disclosures. Such cases seem to indicate an inevitable need for radical change in the roles of accountants, especially in safeguarding the company’s future through corporate government endeavours. Accountants are being challenged to regain the trust to the public and the business community. It’s time for the accountants to walk out of the back offices and proactively work with their colleagues in the front line.

Today, all business transactions - purchasing, selling, collection, payment, and so on - are required by law to be recorded in a company’s accounting books. So, responsible accountants need to verify, review and process these transactions by applying their knowledge. They must decide on the right accounting entries to be used in order to reflect the company’s true financial picture. In order to cope with the current dynamic level of competition, the scope of work of the accounting department needs to be extended. Accountants must play an additional role in driving the business toward success. Month-end account closing, balance sheets and profit loss statements will become merely basic requirements for the accounting department.

In general, the organizational structure of a company shows the relationships of several functions and their reporting lines. Each unit in the organization may be called a section, department or division. Whatever it’s called, it surely consists of responsible people comprising the supervisors and subordinates under each function."