Professionals often develop concerns over the safeguarding of their professional practice's assets (i.e., cash, accounts receivable, etc.). "Is my practice susceptible to theft from an unscrupulous employee?" Theft in a professional practice can take many forms. The best deterrent and antidote for the potential of theft is a properly designed system of internal controls.

What is internal control? Internal control can be defined as the system instituted by management of an organization to provide reasonable assurance in achieving objectives for the effective and efficient use of the entity's resources. Internal controls take on many forms and range from the procedures and security around the cash receipts received daily to the proper recognition, verification, and reporting of transactions in your financial management reports.

How can Aspen Consulting Group, Ltd. assist you in this critical area concerning your organization? We use our expertise and experience to perform a professionally conducted intensive review of your organization's current system of internal controls. We concentrate on reviewing the safeguarding of the organization's assets in relation to the entity's size, availability of personnel, and their qualifications. Smaller organizations often experience personnel constraints that for example, inhibit the ability to separate functional responsibilities concerning financial aspects of the practice. As part of our review we will use statistical sampling techniques to trace financial transactions through your billing, collection, and disbursement systems.

We will issue a report of our findings after reviewing the existing internal controls, which will include our recommendations for improvement. Our review cannot be relied upon to disclose errors, fraud, or other illegal acts that may exist. However, we will inform you of any material errors, fraud, or other illegal acts that come to our attention. If any of these illegal acts are identified, we will meet with you to determine a plan of action to assess the financial magnitude to the organization. We will prepare documented exhibits that can be used to pursue recovery.

Aspen Consulting Group, Ltd. will be available to assist in the practical implementation of improvements to your systems of internal control. We are available to aid in the on-going independent monitoring of controls to assist with the safeguarding of your practice assets.