The Theory Structure Of Internal Control In Informationization Environment

Traditional internal control is in the non-informationization environments which include hierarchy organization, slow information communication and serious information asymmetry. With informationization society coming, the future company will be the organization based on information. Informationization environment will effect the company’s operation and management; as the important content of management mechanism, internal control is also facing the challenge of informationization. Information and internal control have the natural connections. Information asymmetry is the condition of internal control. From the informationism, internal control is the control based on information; information is the object and media of internal control. The dissertation analyzes informationization effects on internal control from informationism.The informationization environment strikes on the fountain theories of internal control. The dissertation analyzes the existence of internal control through the principle-agent model and thinks that the information of agent’s effort is observable and confirmable. In the informationization environment, the traditional hypotheses about organization, behavior and system are facing challenge. On the base of hypotheses, the dissertation brings forward the concept of "internal control’s puzzles" which imply the contravention. The nature of internal control can be understood to be the authority restriction based on information and the rules of internal control is just the restriction rules of information collocation. In the advanced phase of informationization, internal control will evolve into the communication and harmony, self-control and self-behavior optimization. Observing through Aghion-Tirole model, the allocation of internal control’s authority in nature is the authority’s allocation based on the information. Informationization environment will make the agent who owns more information achieve more form and real authority.The informationization environment affects target of internal control. The target of traditional internal control is oriented on fulfilling accountability and starts from risk minimum. Information environment has great effects on the traditional target of internal control that includes asset safety, information reliability, law and regular abidance, operation target and strategic target. The empirical study shows that informationization has these traditional targets of internal control better realized in reasonable insurance. The dissertation brings forward that the target of internal control should transform from accountability to behavior optimization which emphasizes agreeing with company culture and perspective, team work, process information of behavior, and learning. The terminal target of internal control is to give reasonable insurance for creating value. The empirical study also provides the evidences about informationization environment helping internal control create value.The informationization environment affects operating mechanism of internal control. The objects of internal control transform from employee, capital and assets to the information and information flows. As a popular organization form, network organization changes the border of internal control. From the view of informationism, internal control of company league aims at the information and information flows through members. Manners of internal control transform from rigidity to flexibility that depends on employee’s self-determination. Methods of internal control transform to self-adapting, collaboration, real-time and intelligence which are based on network organization. Informationization environment causes more information communication and more advanced information systems which create conditions for collaboration management control method. Informationization environment also makes the game mechanism of internal control move toward better results.The informationization environment affects the element structure of internal control. The traditional element structure of internal control evolves with economic development, which goes through three elements, five elements and eight elements respectively. The theory of traditional element structure of internal control is deeply affected by accounting profession, which focuses on behavior restriction, ignore employee’s self-management and informal mechanism. The dissertation analyzes informationization’s effects on the traditional five-elements structure of internal control. Control activities are integrated with operation activities through advanced information system. Information and information system have become core factor of internal control. After the traditional element structure of internal control being integrated with information, the new one can be abstracted three elements, i.e. control environment, online activities and offline activities. The dissertation also shows that the new element structure of internal control is implemented in china’s listing company through case study.The informationization environment affects information disclosure of internal control. Information disclosure of internal control goes through evolving process from simple to complicated, from optional to normative, and from volunteer to compelling. The informationization environment makes compelling disclosure of internal control necessary and possible. From the company side, theoretical and empirical study shows that informationization environment strengthens the motive of information disclosure of internal control. From the social demand, the focus of supervising of accounting information is from the result (audit) to the process (internal control), and informationization environment reinforces this demand. Informationization environment also affects the behavior of information disclosure of internal control that includes entity, mode, content and deficit, and empirical study confirms this anticipation. The final trend of information disclosure of internal control is real-time and dynamic report, which is the representation of informationism of internal control and provides basic insurance for on-line supervising internal control.