Internal control standards set out in the ordinance of the direccion del giro of the Banco de San Carlos (1789)

Abstract

The Ordinance of the Dirección del Giro (Banking Section), of 1789, summarized all the dispositions regarding this section of the Banco de San Carlos enacted after the founding Royal Charter of 1782. This Ordinance contained the instructions regarding all basic aspects of the section functioning such as the internal control, the assignment of functions and their distribution among the personnel, the operational procedure and operative procedures, describing the functions of the personnel of correspondence and of bookkeeping -the two main kinds of officers existing at the Section-, as well as the detailed tasks of authorization, execution, recording and custody entrusted to them. The purpose of this Ordinance, as usual in every internal instruction, was to optimize the management of the Dirección del Giro, to guarantee the correct development of its operations, to avoid mistakes in its accounting records and to ensure the reliability of the final information they provided, as well as to assure the value of the assets entrusted to this Direction.