A successful risk management strategy requires a strong internal control environment. The risk and control matrix (RCM) format emphasizes that strong and risk-oriented internal control environments are often optimized with automated/manual controls, depending on the situation.

An RCM provides an overview of different control objectives that organizations should take into consideration and the corresponding controls to safeguard the company against risks which may arise if not checked timely. Once customized to an organization, this document can help the user in assessing each control. The control assessment can then also be summarized to develop an action plan to strengthen the internal control structure.

This document outlines risks and controls common to the 4.5 Manage IT Assets process in an RCM format.

Sample risks include:

• Assets owned/leased and their locations cannot be determined.
• Cost dependencies cannot be identified.
• Hardware is not standardized, leading to higher support and IT costs.
• Records may be destroyed, lost or altered; this could result in an inability to prepare reliable financial and operating reports (e.g., loss of vendors' invoices, contracts and lease documents).

This document can be used as a sample RCM and is not meant to be an exhaustive list of risks and controls. The KnowledgeLeader team will periodically update this RCM with new content. Organizations should select, update and modify the risks and controls included in this document to ensure that it reflects business operations.