Using a movie to study the COSO internal control framework An instructional case

• Published in: The Journal of information systems Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 63 - 76
• Main Authors: Savage, Arline, Norman, Carolyn Strand, Lancaster, Kathryn A. S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sarasota American Accounting Association 01.01.2008
• Subjects: Accounting firms; Auditing standards; Auditors reports; Audits; Betriebswirtschaft; Betriebswirtschaftslehre; Boards of directors; Corporate governance; Employees; Financial reporting; Information systems; Internal auditors; Internal controls; Lehrmaterial; Management accountants; Merchant banks; Motion pictures; Public Company Accounting Reform & Investor Protection Act 2002-US; Revision; Risk assessment; Students; Studies; Studium; Wirtschaftsprüfung; United States > US
• ISSN: 0888-7985; 1558-7959
• DOI: 10.2308/jis.2008.22.1.63

Following enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 (U.S. House of Representatives 2002), public accounting firms and publicly traded companies are much more focused on internal controls. Accordingly, many accounting graduates will be asked to evaluate, document, and perhaps test the adequacy of an organization's internal control structure. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations' (COSO 1992) Internal Control—Integrated Framework is the most widely used tool for this purpose. This instructional case, based on the movie, Rogue Trader, gives students the opportunity to see the consequences of lax corporate governance and weak internal controls at the Barings Bank. Students view the movie and then use the COSO framework to critically analyze the collapse of a well-established financial institution.