Mission Statement and Policies & Procedures Manual

Internal Control

Administrative Control

A Mission Statement plus a clearly written Policies and Procedures Manual should be the basis for effective management and control of all dealership activities.

The Mission Statement should state why the dealership exists and its general objectives.

The Policies and Procedures are the rules to be followed to achieve the objectives of the dealership and should include:

Employment Policies - which guide hiring practices, orientation of new employees, compliance with employment laws, and confidentiality of dealership and customer information

Employment Status & Records - which define such issues as employment classifications, access to personnel files and guidance on how background checks and performance reviews are to be performed

Employee Benefits - which explain benefits such as insurance, vacations, holidays, leave, and employee reimbursements

Salary and Wages – which explain the policies as related to salary and wage administration including deductions, pay advances, payroll periods and time keeping

Workplace Guidelines – which are quite varied and should include best practices with respect to customer satisfaction, defining certain work arrangements such as flex time and telecommuting to offering guidelines on how to properly handle and safeguard dealership assets

Employee Conduct – which are guidelines that control employee behavior and conduct on the job and should include policies regarding substance abuse, smoking, harassment, and workplace violence

E-Policies – which should guide all personnel in the use of the dealership’s information technology.  These should define acceptable and prohibited activities and the use of e-mail and the Internet

In addition, the policies and procedures should provide guidelines for the proper handling of source documents and when properly executed, should provide the following:

1.      A guide for the accounting records, and for department managers or other supervisors to properly manage activities within each department

2.      A guide to properly communicate general information and instructions between departments 

3.      A coherent system of operation

Many documents originate in and are handled by the operating departments.  However, it is the responsibility of senior management to advise the department managers of the policies and procedures regarding the documents and to secure their cooperation in establishing and maintaining an effective system of administrative control.

The documents on the following pages are essential to effective administrative control.  However, they are not intended to comprise a complete list of the forms necessary to operate a dealership.