Essentially, IT governance provides a structure for aligning IT strategy with business strategy. By following a formal framework, organizations can produce measurable results toward achieving their strategies and goals. A formal program also takes stakeholders’ interests into account, as well as the needs of staff and the processes they follow.
Organizations today are subject to many regulations governing the protection of confidential information, financial accountability, data retention and disaster recovery, among others. They’re also under pressure from shareholders, stakeholders and customers.
Both public- and private-sector organizations need a way to ensure that their IT functions support business strategies and objectives. And a formal IT governance program should be on the radar of any organization in any industry that needs to comply with regulations related to financial and technological accountability.
The easiest way is to start with a framework that’s been created by industry experts and used by thousands of organizations. Many frameworks include implementation guides to help organizations phase in an IT governance program with fewer speedbumps.
Most IT governance frameworks are designed to help you determine how your IT department is functioning overall, what key metrics management needs and what return IT is giving back to the business from its investments.
One of the most important paths to success is with executive buy-in. Calatayud recommends forming a risk management committee with top-level sponsorships and business representation.
People at this level meet in Washington, D.C. The government for the nation consists of three branches with powers outlined by the Constitution.
A system in which the powers of government are balanced among the different branches so that each branch can check, or limit, the power of the other branches.
Powers shared by the national and state governments, such as levying taxes and establishing courts.
The branch of government that makes laws. At the national level, the House of Representatives and the Senate make up the legislative branch. At the state level, the House of Delegates and VA Senate make up this branch.
Powers that are specifically listed in the Constitution and granted to the national government, such as coining money and making treaties.
The three categories of broad service activities of a general purpose government are governmental, business-type , and fiduciary. Governmental activities include administrative support and core government services. Business-type activities are activities that are generally intended to be self-supporting, such as public utilities. Fiduciary activities are those where the government acts as a trustee or agent for parties outside the government.
The primary objective of government-wide financial reporting is to report on the government's operational accountability so that users can evaluate whether the government is covering the cost of its services over the long run. Additionally, recall from Chapter 1 that operational accountability relates to how efficiently and effectively the government is using its resources in meeting its objectives. The objective of governmental fund financial reporting is to report on the government's fiscal accountability. Thus, governmental fund financial reporting helps users evaluate the short run objective of whether financial resources were raised and spent in accordance with legal and budgetary restrictions. As can be seen from the objectives, the focus of the government-wide statements tends to be more long run and related to cost of services; whereas, the governmental fund financial statements tends to be short run and related to whether costs for services were incurred in accordance with restrictions.
a. Total assets, liabilities, revenues or expenditures/expenses of that governmental or enterprise fund are at least 10 percent of the corresponding element total (assets, liabilities, and so forth) for all funds of that category or type (that is, total governmental or total enterprise funds), and (emphasis added)
In addition to funds that meet these two criteria, the General Fund of a state or local government must always be reported as a major fund. Finally, at its discretion management can report as a major fund any other governmental or enterprise fund that it considers of significant importance to financial statement users.