Internal controls in an international financial institution

In 2005 the World Bank decided to undertake a review of the internal controls under the COSO framework which governed the operational compliance of its concessionary funding agency, the International Development Association (IDA). This was the first such review within the Bank and the first by any international financial institution. This article describes the purpose, scope, methodology and execution of that review, touching also on the main findings. The review involved both entity and transactions level design and controls testing, it used creative empirical tools to establish 'pass rates' and it provided the basis to uncover a material weakness and several significant deficiencies.