Internal Audit Cases Contract Signing and Approval, 3 Low-level and Common Management Problems!
ID: Internal auditor's practice and actual combat
Contract signing and approval is not only an authorization process, but also a risk prevention process.
Any company attaches great importance to the signing and approval of contracts, especially revenue and expenditure contracts, because it involves the core interests of the enterprise.
1. Inconsistency between online and offline contracts
An audit found that the electronic file contract signed and approved online was different from the printed one.
The auditor asked:Why is the contract signed and approved online different from offline?There are inconsistencies in many places in the tax points or text
The contract initiating department answers:When we initiated the online process, we didn't find any errors, and we found that we made mistakes in the process, but the reviewers didn't find it, so we didn't call back!
The process is finally completed, and if you go back and again, it will waste a lot of time, so it is better to adjust it directly on the electronic version of the contract.
The reason must not be established, the audit requires them to rectify, and the rectification is also full of twists and turns, according to our suggestions, it must be to eliminate the problem of inconsistency.
There are three ways to deal with this problem, and they have all been experienced:
1.First go offline, then go online for approval, and describe the contract that has been stamped offline online. This is equivalent to going through the process offline and going through it again online.
The printed contract is watermarked, eliminating the text of non-online approval.
In this mode, going online and offline twice is not efficient, and it is a complete waste of the convenience of the software.
2.Set up professional posts to print contracts, but add two "contract specialists".
Someone printed the contract, had to increase the establishment, and the boss wanted to lay off employees within half a year, and it would not last long.
3.The standardized contract template is set up in the software system, and the contract in the process does not exist in the form of attachments, so that the contract is watermarked directly from the system, and the text of non-online approval is eliminated.
It is said that the watermark is the most reasonable, but there are many companies involved, there are many templates, the information department adjusts the watermark every day, and it stops after a few mistakes, and there is a problem, urgent contracts often change documents, and the mode cannot take shortcuts, and many people feel that it is not easy to use.
In the end, the initiator still prints the contract, but he must ensure that the online printing must be a contract that has completed the process.
A review has been added in the middle, and the sealer will review whether the formal contract is consistent with the system, although the problem of inconsistency cannot be completely eliminated, but it does greatly reduce the risk of changing the contract text without permission.
Second, the financial said: I only review the payment, I don't review the contract
I have encountered two times when the financial staff refused to set themselves into the contract signing and approval process.
One is the contract approval process of the subsidiary, and the financial manager of the subsidiary does not participate in the contract approval process, but asks the cashier to sign it.
When the auditor asks the cashier, "What did you review?"."Times.
The cashier said: "I am only responsible for the registration of the contract, and I do not review the specific content of the contract. ”
Ask again: "Don't you check the economic terms in the contract: the contract amount, payment node, tax point, security deposit, default deduction, etc.?"”
Answer: "The leader did not let the nuclear", the answer was clean and neat!
The basic functions of finance are accounting and supervision, and contract review is closely related to bothThe financial risk is not controlled at all
The point is, they still take it for granted!
Another time is the general manager of the financial center, when setting up the contract signing and approval process, he does not participate in the approval of any large or small contract, and also requires the financial center not to participate in the review.
It is clearly stated: "Finance is only responsible for payment review, regardless of the contract!".”
This overall financial pattern is really a dog.
At the insistence of the audit, they still only asked each financial manager to sign, and the financial director still did not sign;
Finance does not always have to sign in the contract process, but important contracts must always be checked, and it is easy to lose control of the business if you take the initiative to give up this authority.
The reason why he didn't sign it was also very simple: the contract review only had risks, no benefits, and it was not like contract payments, which could earn favors and make money.
Smart and irresponsible people naturally hide if they want to.
3. Who determines the contract template?
Many companies have contract templates developed by the legal department, and everyone even agrees with this approach.
When you make the responsibility clear to the legal department, the problem arises: if there is a problem with the terms of the contract, it is the responsibility of the legal department.
In fact, the terms of the contract involve multiple departments, and the specific implementation process, technical requirements, economic terms, etc., need to be reviewed by personnel from various specialties, and the implementation department also needs to provide real needs.
In one audit, although the contract template existed, it could not meet the needs of the real business, and the contract initiation department changed the relevant terms of the contract according to its own wishes, and even changed it beyond recognition!
There have been two cases in which people have suffered losses in litigation cases due to unclear contracts.
As a result, the audit requires the company to review and adjust the contract template.
The legal and procurement departments began to fight.
The in-house counsel said: We are not omnipotent, we can check and sort out the contract template, but the specific terms must be reviewed and provided by the procurement department.
Zhaocai said: Contract risk is the responsibility of legal affairs, and the contract review is naturally the responsibility of legal affairs.
Both are right and wrong, no matter who the organization is, as long as they can control the risk, they can solve the problem.
Besides, the contract template review is a business that needs to be adhered to and participated by multiple departments, and it is not that you fix it once and I repair it once, and the template can be used all the time.
Changes in the internal and external environment, legal and technological changes will cause changes in the content of the contract, which need to be reviewed and revised.
Best way: For simple business contracts, such as sporadic purchases of office supplies, in-house counsel can directly develop a contract template.
Large-scale and complex cooperation agreements require the participation of multiple departments, such as procurement departments, legal affairs, finance, execution departments, and business experts, etc., to participate in the review of contract templates, or it is better to be led by procurement or contract execution departments.
Dear, pay more attention to **!