The history of internal control spans from a point in time when human affairs became complex enough to require one person to have custody or control of assets belonging to others to today’s capitalistic society requiring widespread ownership of assets. A review of the history of internal control indicates that the complexity of internal control in a society is closely coordinated to the complexity of the right to own property in that society. In societies with simplistic rules of property rights, there may be few stakeholders needing protection with internal control. In societies with more complicated rules of property ownership, there may be more stakeholders
with higher needs for protection by internal control.
In the U.S., the growth and development of internal control systems and processes over financial reporting has closely followed the increase in the complexity of business transactions, the failure of some to protect assets belonging to others, a formal organization providing a framework for internal controls, and the intrusion or intervention of government. In the 1920’s there was an emphasis on administrative internal controls so managers could have information to make good decisions. Soon afterwards emphasis seemed to be directed toward financial reporting and continued that focus until recent times. The period of time for comments on the ICIF has concluded and COSO expects to release the in the first quarter of 2013. ICIF provides guidance to business organizations as they adapt to the increasing complexity of change. It provides a framework for mitigating risks and for providing reliable information to support decision making by management and by external stakeholders. While it may be a futile exercise to predict the future of internal control, it is a good prediction that as the U.S. society changes, the need for changes in internal control will likely change also.