Proceedings

Financial
control
Figure 1. Management control and financial control
Management
control
concerns the processes of collecting and distributing
public funds and management of property.
means all actions taken to ensure that the objectives
and tasks are accomplished in a manner consistent
with the law, efficient, cost-effective and timely.
(Source: Authors' research)
Management control in relation to the functioning of Polish public sector, refers to the
concept of internal control, which was defined by international organizations such as
COSO (The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations Treadway Commission) or
INTOSAI (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions by The
International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions - ISSAI). According to them,
internal control is a tool or a management process used to obtain reasonable assurance
that management objectives have been achieved. It is performed by a board of
institutions, management and other employees of the organization (Risk Management
- Integrated Framework, COSO, 2004). Internal control, from the standpoint of
international organizations is perceived in a much broader way than internal control,
which was formed in the culture of the Polish public organizations. So far, the internal
control functioning in polish units meant comparing the actual state with the required
one and was performed by a specially established organizational units (so-called
institutional control).
A guideline to implementation and evaluation of management control in the public
finance sector are the management control standards established by the Minister of
Finance (Journal of Law MF No. 15, item. 84). It is "an ordered set of guidelines that
those responsible for the operation of management control should use to create,
evaluate and improve management control system" (Journal of Law MF No. 15, item.
84). Their purpose is to promote the implementation of a coherent and uniform model
of management control in public finance sector, in accordance with international
standards, taking into account the specific tasks of the implementing institution.
The standards include five elements that correspond to each management control
tasks, which is presented in Figure 2.
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