Audit

With 2019 planning on the horizon, audit teams are beginning to consider external factors that threaten to disrupt the success of their organization’s key objectives. Gartner’s Malcolm Murray, Rafael Go and Leslee McKnight analyze 11 key risks, connected by four major risk themes, that can help audit teams more effectively identify risks to their organization and their impact on the audit function and their stakeholders. with co-authors Rafael Go and Leslee McKnight Ongoing favorable macroeconomic conditions have enabled organizations to...

8 Tips to Implement Now Shane Whitlatch, EVP at FairWarning, outlines the key controls companies should have in place to quickly and confidently respond to an OCR audit should they be selected. The best time to prepare for an audit is before you’re in one. Fortunately, requirements for various regulations are widely available so that there’s no guesswork involved and you can make sure you’re compliant ahead of time. So, you can start preparing for an Office of Civil Rights...

Impact and Opportunities MetricStream’s latest survey on the state of internal audit finds auditors focused on delivering timely insights on key risks, aligning audit planning with business strategy and improving audit processes and operational effectiveness. Manu Gopeendran details the survey’s findings. For years, internal auditors have been the eyes and ears of the enterprise, providing assurance around the efficacy of risk mitigation strategies and controls. But today they are being asked to do more – to go beyond simply protecting...

Protiviti’s Jim DeLoach explores how to bolster internal audit’s efforts in providing recommendations that are strong, actionable and in keeping with the board’s expectations. We’ve always believed that boards should ensure that their organizations maximize the full potential of internal audit. There are four C’s directors should consider when evaluating the sufficiency of any risk-based audit plan: culture, competitiveness, compliance and cyber. We’re not suggesting they are the only things a board should consider, but they should be on the...

Not all forms of intellectual property are important to every company, but some form of intellectual property is important to virtually every company.

(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...

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...

Given its tendency to be overshadowed by the more exciting aspects of the M&A process, internal auditors can contribute significant value by ensuring that a vibrant due diligence process is in place and operating as intended. A rigorous audit of the M&A due diligence process can help companies take advantage of legitimate new business opportunities, while at the same time help them minimize risks.

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...

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...

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...

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...