Accountancy Dean Patricia Empleo called for a robust framework of internal controls to deal with growing external risks faced by the University, such as shifting enrollment trends and rising competition.
Empleo delivered the Discurso de Apertura, or the inaugural lecture of the new academic year, at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church on Aug. 6.
Adopting the definition of a private sector initiative, Empleo said internal control is a system “affected by an entity’s governance body.”
Controls “go down to the functional level to provide reasonable assurance regarding achieving operational, reportorial, and compliance objectives,” she said in her lecture titled “Internal Control: Key to Effective Enterprise Risk Management.”
“In the context of a university, internal control is not just about financial accuracy. It is about safeguarding academic integrity, protecting data, ensuring compliance, and supporting sustainability initiatives,” she said.
Empleo said the framework, which originated from the Committee on Sponsoring Organization of the Tradeway Commission (COSO), a private sector initiative on enterprise risk management, could become a “powerful tool for aligning practices” with UST’s values and strategic objectives.
COSO has five components: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring, the accountancy dean said.
Risk assessment, Empleo said, requires institutions to identify potential events that could affect a university’s objectives.
“It must navigate shifting enrollment patterns, ensure program alignment with student and market and societal needs, and contend with intensifying competition from public universities, private institutions, even open universities and foreign institutions,” she said.
“By aligning risk management with sustainability and ethical practices, we do more than safeguard our institution, we uphold a culture of integrity, accountability and continuous improvement,” she said.
Empleo, who has reached retirement age, will extend her tenure as dean of the UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy by another year, a post she has held since 2013.
The Discurso de Apertura, adopted from the practice of universities in Europe, is a longstanding UST tradition dating back to 1866, in which an appointed senior faculty member delivers a lecture to open the academic year. With reports from Sydney Venice V. Berba, Frenchshield Shayne G. Delovieres, Micah G. Pascua, Mary Dawn S. Santos, and Amador Denzel M. Teston
