The primary objective of The University of Texas System Institutional Compliance Program is to provide component and system management with on-going assurance regarding compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures. The key word in this objective is on-going. Management achieves that on-going assurance through the use of monitoring controls and oversight controls. Both of these control levels are standard management controls.
Supervisory review is the most common monitoring control.
Quality control functions are also an example of standard monitoring controls. Actual vs. budget comparisons and explanations of unusual variances are examples of oversight controls, which have always been performed by management, usually at a level above supervisory controls. The compliance office or function that has been established at most components is an oversight function. It has been established by senior management to provide assurance that both operating controls and monitoring controls are in place and working. Both monitoring controls and oversight controls have always existed, to some extent, in every organization.