DAS, State Treasury outline enterprise internal controls, audits and cyber safeguards

The Department of Administrative Services and the Oregon State Treasury presented an informational briefing on internal controls to the General Government Subcommittee on May 7, outlining how the state balances risk, oversight and operational efficiency.

Kate Nass, chief financial officer at the Department of Administrative Services, told Chair Gorsek and committee members that internal controls ‘‘is really a pretty broad topic’’ that must be embedded across policies, systems and physical and electronic access. She said the department would keep the briefing high level and take requests for more sensitive detail offline to avoid increasing security risk.

Nass said statewide policies include guidance from the chief human resources office and the Oregon Accounting Manual, and that controls are enforced through multiple financial systems and through physical and electronic access controls. Rob Hamilton, state controller in the Chief Financial Office, said the Oregon Accounting Manual includes a chapter on internal control and that RSTARS, the state accounting system, uses…