What is a policies and prodecures manual and wat does it contain?

Question

What is a policies and prodecures manual and wat does it contain?

Answer 1

I just want to add that increasingly, government agencies are auditing policies when it comes to the public's privacy issues, such as when they enter personal information on websites, etc.  

I worked last year at a loan company that had regular Sarbanes Oxley (we called it SOX)  audits where they reviewed these manuals and then checked that the employees were following it to the letter.

These manuals also come into play when you go to court - to prove that your company has procedures to deal with fraud, identity theft, embezzlement, shareholder issues. etc.

Answer 2

Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies.

They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental regulations, such as the American Sarbanes-Oxley Act requiring full openness in accounting.