COSO is the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (Treadway because the Chairman of the first Commission was James C. Treadway). This is basically a private-sector initiative with the objective of identifying the factors that cause fraudulent financial reporting, and then recommend steps to reduce the frequency thereof. It was established in 1985.

It is sponsored by 5 large accounting organizations: AICPA, FEI, AAA, IMA and IIA.

The COSO Framework comprises 5 components:
1) Control Environment
2) Risk Assessment
3) Control Activities
4) Information and Communication
5) Monitoring