Financial Controls Assessment
The prompt
$18
Why this works
The segregation of duties analysis is the highest-value section of a financial controls assessment for small nonprofits because insufficient staffing often means one person handles multiple financial functions that should be separated — the same person processing invoices and signing cheques is both the most common and the most exploitable control gap. Approval threshold review identifies whether authorisation limits have kept pace with growth in transaction volumes and amounts. The board oversight section specifically addresses the oversight role that distinguishes nonprofit governance from corporate governance.
Risks & review
Financial controls assessments that identify significant gaps in small organisations must be realistic about what controls are achievable given staff constraints — recommending full segregation of duties to a three-person finance team will be dismissed as impractical. Prioritise compensating controls (bank statement review by executive director, board review of credit card statements) that achieve the control objective with fewer staff than pure segregation requires.