BROADENING knowledge on internal controls and risk management practices among Thomasians will be the focus of this year’s Discurso de Apertura on Aug. 5, Accountancy Dean Patricia Empleo said.
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Empleo said her lecture, titled “Internal Control: Key to Effective Enterprise Risk Management,” will highlight different forms of risks and built-in internal controls within the University.
“Encountering so many circumstances here at UST, I think what is lacking is the knowledge of internal control and implementation of internal control,” Empleo said.
“We are not aware that there is internal control but there are control practices that are actually being implemented. We are just not aware why these are implemented and I have to explain that to the audience,” she added.
In accounting, controls ensure that transactions are accurate, assets are safeguarded, and financial reports can be trusted.
Risk management entails identifying, assessing, and addressing threats that could prevent a business from keeping financial records accurate, complying with laws, and protecting assets.
Empleo said she hoped that through her lecture, Thomasians would be more aware and conscious of accounting control practices and adhere to them.
“I think they will be more aware, they will be conscious of some control activities, they will be more adhering to some control policies because they can understand already why there are such policies,” the dean explained.
Empleo, who has reached retirement age, will extend her tenure as dean of the UST-Alfredo M. Velayo (AMV) College of Accountancy by another year. She has held the post since 2013.
The accountancy dean was recognized as the 2021 Pillar of Accounting Education by the National Association of Certified Public Accountants in Education and the 2022 Outstanding Certified Public Accountant in Education by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
In 2018, she was named Global Accounting Hall of Famer by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants.
The Discurso de Apertura is a longstanding University tradition dating back to 1866, in which an appointed faculty member delivers a lecture to inaugurate the academic year.
Empleo’s lecture will be delivered at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church at UST Manila. It will be broadcast simultaneously on the UST Manila and UST General Santos Facebook pages.
This marks the second year that the Discurso de Apertura will include students from the Mindanao campus after last year’s lecture by Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan, which tackled the University’s rich history.
The lecture will take place at 10:30 a.m. after the Misa de Apertura or the Mass of the Holy Spirit.
Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit of the Diocese of San Pablo will preside over the Mass in the Manila campus, while Fr. Edmund Nantes, O.P., UST GenSan’s associate vice rector for finance and administration, will lead the Eucharistic celebration in Mindanao.
