Back to results for “Audit Risk & Materiality”
Auditing & Assurance › Internal Controls Evaluation

What are entity-level controls versus process-level (transaction) controls?

Intermediate

Answer

Entity-level controls operate broadly across the organization—tone at the top, governance, policies, monitoring, IT general controls—and influence many processes. Process/transaction-level controls operate within specific processes (e.g., matching, approvals) over particular assertions. Strong entity-level controls can affect the extent of testing of process controls; weak ones increase risk pervasively.
Real-world example A strong control environment and effective monitoring (entity-level) support reliance on the day-to-day process controls.

Common follow-ups: How do entity-level controls affect the audit? | Give an example of each level.