Personnel

Control Objectives for Personnel

(a) To ensure that adequate and appropriately trained staff are provided in
order to fulfill the current and future production objectives;
(b) To ensure that production staff are appropriately organised, experienced
and qualified to satisfactorily address the production objectives:
(c) To ensure that staff resources are efficiently and cost effectively
employed;
(d) To ensure that staff performance is effectively monitored and
shortcomings are detected and addressed;
(e) To ensure that production staff are adequately supervised so that the work
is undertaken in the relevant timescale and to the required standard;
(f) To ensure that non-productive time is minimised;
(g) To ensure that all hours worked are correctly recorded, costed and
accounted for;
(h) To ensure that employees on hourly rates are only paid, at the correct
rate, for hours actually worked;
(i) To ensure that production employees are provided with relevant and
sufficient equipment, tools, clothing, etc. to enable them to effectively and safely
discharge their responsibilities;
(j) To ensure that all production employees (including temporary and casual
staff) are stable, reliable and confirmed as suitably experienced prior to
engagement;
(k) To ensure that staff turnover and absenteeism are monitored and
minimised; and
(l) To ensure that communication between management and staff is
effectively handled and aims to foster good labour relations.

Risk and Control Issues for Personnel

1 Key Issues

1.1 What mechanisms are in place to ensure that production staffing

requirements are accurately determined and procured?
1.2 How does management ensure that the required production
demands will be met through the provision of sufficient staff?
1.3 How can management be assured that the production workforce are
appropriately and sufficiently skilled to meet the production objectives?
1.4 How does management ensure that staff resources are efficiently and
cost effectively utilised?
1.5 What mechanisms are in place to monitor production staff
performance, and are shortcomings identified and suitably dealt with?
1.6 What processes ensure that goods are produced within the defined
timescales and to the required quality standards?
1.7 How can management be assured that hours worked are correctly
recorded and accounted for?
1.8 How does management ensure that hourly paid employees are only
paid for true productive time?
1.9 How can management be sure that the workforce is adequately
trained to meet the production demands and targets?
1.10 How is the engagement of unsuitable, unstable and poorly
experienced staff prevented?
1.11 What steps are taken to foster and maintain good labour relations
with the production employees and their representatives, and are changes in
conditions and practices adequately communicated , discussed and agreed?

2 Detailed Issues

2.1 How are the current and future production staffing requirements
determined, and how can management be assured of the accuracy and reliability
of these data?
2.2 Are the skill requirements for production staff accurately determined and
how are these data used to ensure that the workforce skills are adequately
maintained?
2.3 Are staff suitably skilled to enable the effective coverage of absences,
holiday periods, etc.?
2.4 What mechanisms prevent undue levels of unproductive time (i.e. during
retooling, etc.)?
2.5 Are staff and supervisors appropriately organised and structured to
facilitate the allocation of responsibilities and adequate lines of communication?
2.6 Are all staff aware of their explicit responsibilities, and how is this
achieved?
2.7 Would surplus or under used staff resources be promptly identified and
redeployed?
2.8 Would failures to meet timescale and/or quality targets be promptly
identified, and how is this evidenced?
2.9 How can management be assured that all the required resources are made
available at the appropriate time so as to avoid/minimise non-productive time?
2.10 What measures ensure that hourly-paid staff are only paid for the hours
actually worked at the appropriate rate?
2.11 What mechanisms ensure that overtime payments are valid, authorised
and correctly accounted for through the payroll and accounting systems?
2.12 What measures prevent the fraudulent manipulation of time sheets?
2.13 Does management ensure that evening and night shifts are adequately
supervised?
2.14 How does management ensure that all the required equipment, tools,
safety devices, etc. are provided, and that staff comply with the prevailing health
and safety regulations?
2.15 Are the previous employment records of staff confirmed as correct and
satisfactory prior to engagement, and would shortcomings be adequately
identified?
2.16 Is staff turnover a problem, and what measures are in place to monitor
and minimise turnover of employees?
2.17 Are management monitoring absenteeism and taking appropriate action
against persistent offenders or where production objectives are being adversely
affected?
2.18 How is the accuracy of data input from other systems (i.e. Production
planning) confirmed?
2.19 How is the accuracy of data output to other systems (i.e. payroll, product
accounting, etc.) confirmed?