Disclosure of Internal Control Systems:: a Cross-sectional Study of Listed Finnish Companies

An Internal Control is a process carried out by an entity's Board of Directors, management and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of its objectives. Its goal is to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of operations, the reliability of financial reporting as well as compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The accounting scandals that occurred in the U. S. in the early 2000's have had a tremendous impact on investments and the economy and thus triggered a lot more research in the field of internal control worldwide. Studies in the field have looked at internal control from a variety of perspectives. The purpose of this research is to assess how listed Finnish companies report their Internal Control. This is achieved by answering the following research questions: How do these organizations disclose their Internal Control? Do they comply with applicable codes and regulations? Are there any similarities and/or differences between the reports? The methods used for this research include both nomothetic and action-oriented methods and a cross-sectional field study approach is used to analyse the data.