Internal controls encompass both internal administrative controls and internal accounting controls.
They include mission and policy statements, organization charts, procedure manuals, duties descriptions, training programs, information systems, filing systems, and other tools used to control program operations. They include authorization procedures for financial transactions, use of generally accepted accounting principles to record financial transactions, limited access to assets and periodic inventories of assets. Internal audit is an independent appraisal of operations, conducted under the direction of agency management, to assess the effectiveness of internal administrative and accounting controls and help ensure conformance with managerial policies. The VA analyzes the overall organizational and administrative environment, the potential for failures and the seriousness of such occurrences. Identifying each function's level of risk helps the agency schedule the timing and frequency of more extensive reviews of operations.