Audit
90 Percent GDPR-Audit Failure Rates Ahead
(And That’s OK) The penalties for GDPR violations can be ruinous. But do organizations need to worry? Terry Ray suggests that while compliance is necessary, most companies can rest easy. May 25 has come and gone. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has gone into effect. The first GDPR lawsuits have already been filed. And the world still turns. GDPR promises to be the furthest-reaching and most complex data-protection regulatory scheme the world has known, for the following...
Transforming IT Audit in the Digital Era
Robotic Process Automation and Other Key Advances A number of technological advances are emerging that, when implemented by IT audit, will upend the traditional approach to IT auditing. Among the advances: robotic process automation, advanced analytics, and process mining. Protiviti’s Andrew Struthers-Kennedy and Ashley Cuevas explore several changes coming to the IT audit function, and how each will increase the department’s business value. with co-author Ashley Cuevas Organizations everywhere are progressing on their digital journeys at a healthy clip. They’re...
Tips to Achieve Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) Compliance
How to Overcome Technological Roadblocks What a time to work in the GRC field: new technologies are constantly emerging to help companies meet their regulatory obligations. At the same time, many fragmented requirements have piled up over time. Chris Ekonomidis, Head of U.S. Business Consulting at Synechron, discusses the three main hurdles organizations must overcome to ensure Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) compliance. In order to keep track of the plethora of data generated every day across different trading markets, many...
A Global Look at IT Audit Best Practices
Global consulting firm Protiviti and global business technology professional association ISACA have released their annual report, A Global Look at IT Audit Best Practices. Key findings from the survey of more than 1,300 IT audit and internal audit leaders and professionals include: Privacy/cybersecurity was cited as the top concern for the second year in a row 37% percent of businesses did not address cybersecurity within their audit plans, citing lack of resources as the primary reason Half of all organizations polled have a dedicated IT audit director (or equivalent...
4 Ways to Lessen the Burden of a FINRA Audit
Take These Steps Now to Minimize Risk Later When it comes time for a FINRA audit, financial organizations can spend a significant amount of resources gathering and producing the necessary data. It can be a challenge to do this without damaging the metadata or overlooking privileged items while also ensuring you meet all regulations and compliance rules. Rather than waiting to receive a request or inquiry from FINRA before getting your data in order, invest the time now in effective data management. Each year, Financial Industry...
Protiviti’s Annual Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Report
Global consulting firm Protiviti has recently released results of its annual Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey. Over 1,500 Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) were surveyed globally, the majority representing organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue. According to this year’s survey, utilizing data analytics in the audit process is far more common in Europe (76 percent) and APAC (also 76 percent) than in North America (just 63 percent). Additionally, one-in-three organizations globally still have no plans to implement audit analytics within the...
Audit and the Rise of Robotic Process Automation
Risks Presented in Adopting RPA with co-author Barton Edgerton A large number of organizations are quickly moving to implement robotic process automation (RPA) across a wide variety of corporate functions, ranging from shared services to finance. Most audit departments will soon confront RPA in many processes previously controlled by humans. This presents a new set of challenges for auditors as they confront a new technology, altered processes to accommodate that technology and new emerging risks. Some publications suggest that robots...
The (a)(b)(c)s of Sarbanes-Oxley 404
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act continues to be in the news and be a challenge for some companies. We now have Section 404(c), as well as a recently issued SEC Staff Study thanks to Dodd-Frank. We found expert accountant Ron Kral to provide the latest landscape on SOX 404 and break down the recent study.
The New Audit Report Now on the Must-Read List
In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved the new auditor reporting standard, proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). While the standard was implemented to make the auditor’s report more relevant to investors, commenters are concerned that the new requirements may result in a number of unintended consequences. Brett Kumm, a Managing Director in the Forensic & Litigation Consulting segment at FTI Consulting, examines five of these potential consequences in the following article.
4 Major Audit Risk Themes for 2018
As Audit teams start thinking about their 2018 plans, being able to identify new trends in emerging risk areas that threaten to disrupt enterprise performance over the next year is critical. This explains 12 risks, connected by four major risk themes, that organizations need to have on their radar and what Audit teams need to do to more effectively identify and communicate these risks to their organizations and stakeholders.
Auditors: Your Roadmap Has Arrived
The PCAOB inspection process continues to evolve, and it is important that issuers not only prepare for the new areas of emphasis but also continue to focus on areas that the PCAOB emphasized in Staff Inspection Briefs in prior years. Here are the particular areas that PCAOB has marked for scrutiny that public companies should focus on this year.
The Auditor’s Role in Advancing Communications
Part 3 in a Series Exploring the “Auditor of the Future” In this series, Protiviti’s Jim DeLoach and Brian Christensen have put forth 20 potential ways the Chief Audit Executive or internal audit lead can advance his or her relationship with the audit committee. Parts 1 and 2 focused on risk and value, respectively; this installment details strategies for making the most of communications. with co-author Brian Christensen Read Part 1 and Part 2. In this three-part series, we have...
- Terry Wayne Kelly and Kelly Management, LLC August 22, 2019SEC Charges Mississippi Company and its Principal with Fraud in Timber Ponzi Scheme
- Andrew J. Kandelapas August 20, 2019SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against CEO in Penny Stock Fraud Scheme
- Crystal World Holdings, Inc., et al. August 19, 2019SEC Charges Issuer for Misleading Investors in the Sale of Unregistered Securities
