Internal audit conference: crisis - what crisis?
Internal audit conference: crisis - what crisis?
Date: 20 May 2010
Time: 09:30 – 17:00
Venue: Marriott Marble Arch Hotel, London
Cost: £185
CPD Units: 8
Conference outline
The issue
As we slowly recover from the effects of the financial crisis in early 2009, we ask ‘have we identified what went wrong and learnt the right lessons?. As internal audit professionals, have we watched what has been happening in the world around us and applied our observations in the way we audit the key risks facing the organisations we work within? Alternatively, have we just sat on the sidelines, watched what has happened and attributed it to poor supervision, behaviour and organisational attitude?
The key features
We ask the question, and provide some answers, to what now for:
- internal audit
- corporate governance
- the regulator
And examine the impact that behaviour has on organisational risk.
The speakers (in order of appearance)
- Helen England (chairman)
Director of audit, Parkhill
- Malcolm McCaig
Independent director
- Raj Gandhi
Finance, treasury and risk consultant
- Malcolm Lewis
Wizard and corporate alchemist, strategic value partners
- Representative from the FSA
- Professor Andrew Chambers
Management Audit LLP
The session details
Where was internal audit?
Malcolm McCaig
The purpose of this session is to explore the recent financial crisis from the perspective of the Board and how it has changed expectations of internal audit as a major provider of assurance.
- At a time of crisis, someone somewhere usually gets the blame. Is it fair to pick on internal audit?
- In the recent credit crunch, internal audit weren’t highlighted by Walker or Turner. Why not?
- What should be internal audit’s role in providing assurance on governance and risk management?
- What will major stakeholders, such as the audit committee and the risk committee, expect from internal audit in the future?
- What should internal audit learn from recent events and build into its strategic development?
- Can internal audit save us from the next crisis?
The Iceland effect
Raj Gandhi
An in-depth examination of English local authorities’ deposits in the Icelandic banks concludes the majority of councils acted properly in managing their investments and were alert to the risks. However, there are also some examples of negligence during the months leading up to the collapse of the Icelandic banks. This session focuses on those authorities and in particular examines:
- treasury management arrangements and what needs to be done differently
- approach to liquidity, security and yield.
Results of assurance reviews on treasury management undertaken following the collapse and how these impacts on the work of internal audit will also be discussed.
Behaviour trumps compliance
Malcolm Lewis
In the current economic climate the 'fear' of failure has increased the chances of behaviour being less than desirable. For internal audit this means that there is a higher like hood of dysfunctional systems and therefore the risk of non-compliance and loss. Good corporate governance has traditionally been based around putting in systems and controls that assist the organisation to deliver their vision, mission and purpose however, many of these controls are hard 'tick box' tests and rules rather than the 'soft' understanding of the values and behaviours that underpin those hard actions.
This talk will look at
- What do we mean by behaviour and consciousness?
- How do you measure organisational consciousness and culture along with the impact it has on behaviours, activities and results?
- How can internal audit assist the board or management to better understand 'the state of the kingdom'?
- What are our challenges for the future?
Supervising – Too big to fail?
Representative from the FSA
- How has the role of the supervising bodies changed post-crisis?
- Is too big to fail, also too big to regulate? Do we need smaller banks and companies?
- How does/should the role of internal audit fit with that of the supervising bodies?
Corporate governance – in crisis or a new dawn?
Andrew Chambers
The finger has been pointed at many parties, and at many causes, for the current financial crisis. Whether or not corporate governance deserves the stick, no doubt corporate governance failed to prevent the problems we are living through. A price to pay for internal audit emerging relatively unscathed has been that internal audit has had to accept a marginal role as a bit of a bit player in corporate governance, not to be criticized for failing to provide the board with assurance that corporate risks had been identified and were being managed effectively. Keeping our head down means that while internal audit is seen as an insignificant part of the problem, internal audit is also seen as an insignificant part of the solution. It doesn’t have to be like that. Here is internal audit’s leadership opportunity!
- Did corporate governance fail? What are the lessons we should learn?
- How should corporate governance look in the future?
- Will current corporate governance changes address the challenges?
- Where does internal audit fit and what should its role be?
- How, and from where, can boards get the assurance they need?
- Where now for integrated assurance/GRC?
For more information about the programme, please visit ACCA's website.
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