Meeting expectations from the AC, Board and Management Committee

Overview

The Audit Committee (AC), the Board and the Exec/Management Committee, are central to effective governance. Internal Audit (IA) plays a pivotal role in providing them with reliable, objective, relevant and comprehensive information on the governance of risks and controls.

A mature IA function must extend beyond reporting on individual audit engagements to acting as a comprehensive source of insight on the organisation’s overall governance. This encompasses the maturity of risk management, financial and non-financial reporting and exposures, compliance programmes, and fraud deterrence. Achieving this requires IA to influence committee agenda-setting, strengthen collaboration with internal and external assurance providers, and establish annual reporting on key risks and controls.

The course material is based on guidance documents from the IIA combined with professional experience from the instructor who is currently member of the AC in 5 organisations and has been a Chief Audit Executive in several organisations.

LEVEL: intermediate/expert

Target Audience

(Future) Chief Audit Executives responsible for small audit teams (1 to 5) who report on a regular basis to the AC (Board or Management Committee).

Course Objective

• Learn how to practically implement the relevant provisions in the charters and the GIAS in collaboration with the AC, Board and Management Committee.
• Learn how to use IA’s unique expertise to ensure (board) directors obtain a comprehensive view on the status and maturity of organizational governance.
• Discuss contents of annual reporting on (the maturity of) corporate governance both internally (Audit’s annual report, a statement of internal controls) and externally (section of the organisation’s annual report).
• Be able to (self-)assess the proficiency of your IAF on the required competencies and develop an internal audit strategy.
• Examine mechanisms such as protocols, collaboration and communication procedures to interact with other assurance providers.

Course Content

• The essential components in the GIAS and the IA / AC charters and how to implement these in the most efficient and effective manner.
• Relevant and useful dashboard and KPI reporting from IA and tools to assess its own performance.
• Oversight domains of the AC and how IA should collaborate with, and report to, the AC, Board or Management Committee to allow them to take up their governance oversight role 
• Mechanisms and procedures to ensure IA’s interaction with other (internal and external) assurance providers.
• Components of an IA strategy and guidance on how to develop and implement such strategy.