Essential internal control: evidence from the executive branch of the State of Ceará

Purpose - This article aims to identify management practices that evidence how internal control have been considered essential, from the edition of the State Constitutional Amendment no. 75 of 2012, within the public administration of the executive branch of the State of Ceará, during the period 2012–2021. Design/methodology/approach - The study relates the identified management practices to COSO (The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations) methodology “Internal Environment” component categories. The research is classified as basic, exploratory and bibliographic, on the theme of internal control in scientific articles published between 2015 and 2021, and documental, carried out through official documents, including the 27 Brazilian constitutions. Findings - Existence of management practices that corroborate the essentiality of internal control in Ceará. Research limitations/implications - The study is limited to evidencing the control practices implemented in Ceará, not evaluating them as to their quality. Practical implications - Contributions on control on constitutional-legal bases for other Brazilian Federation States. Social implications - Possibility of introducing the research theme into various branches of scientific knowledge, such as political science and contributing to public organizations to implement policies with the proper application of resources for the benefit of society. Originality/value - The originality of the research is in demonstrating the essentiality of internal control in the State of Ceará, from the edition of management acts performed by the executive branch, based on Constitutional Amendment 75 of 2012, which did not become a dead letter of the law, enabling other states of the federation to do the same.