What are policies and procedures that a company uses to safeguard their assets called?

The correct answer, internal controls, refers to the systematic measures applied by a company to protect its assets from theft, fraud, and misuse while ensuring accuracy in financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Internal controls help establish a framework for managing risks within an organization by setting up checks and balances that oversee operations and financial processes.

They typically encompass various procedures, including authorization processes, segregation of duties, audits, and physical safeguards for assets. This ensures that a company's resources are used efficiently and helps maintain the integrity of its financial information. In doing so, internal controls play a vital role in upholding a company’s operational effectiveness and reliability.

The other options do not specifically designate the measures taken to safeguard assets in the same precise context as internal controls. Financial regulations pertain to the laws governing financial practices, risk management strategies focus on identifying and mitigating risks as a whole rather than specifically safeguarding assets, and operational guidelines provide procedural frameworks for day-to-day operations, which may not include asset protection specifically.