Which GAO standard encompasses the policies and procedures to ensure management's directives are carried out?

• A. Control Activities
• B. Monitoring
• C. Information and Communication
• D. Risk Assessment

Answer: (A)

Control Activities are the policies and procedures that ensure management’s directives are carried out. They put management’s decisions into action by implementing specific actions like approvals, authorizations, verifications, reconciliations, and segregation of duties. These activities operate at all levels of an organization to prevent or detect errors and to ensure that approved plans and directives are actually followed.

Monitoring involves evaluating whether internal controls are functioning over time, which helps you know if the controls are working. Information and Communication deal with how information is captured and shared to support control activities. Risk Assessment is about identifying and analyzing risks that could affect achieving objectives. While all support a strong internal control system, the explicit mechanism for turning directives into action is the set of control activities.