Internal audit week - resilience in a dynamic environment

Auditing culture was a la mode a decade ago, but the culture stems from the top. Does the organisation take on too much risk and how would this be known? In our profession, rarely do we ‘catch people doing something right’. Calling out positive action for plaudits would have a big impact on engagement. So why doesn’t the Audit Committee focus on the high performing areas ie. the Cash Cow/Star instead of the dog/question mark as described by BCG’s growth share matrix? Could the Financial Crisis of 2008 have been avoided had Internal Audit teams been directed to look at the cash cow within the banking sector?

In this session we’ll look at why an internal auditor might be requested to audit an area of leadership, whether the internal team or an external consultancy should carry out that audit, what can go wrong, and what to do if it does.

Speaker

Tim Le Mare, Regional sales director - integrated risk, Workiva

Tim has over 20 years of experience in Internal Audit helping organisations to better understand the challenges they face. He has led internal audit teams of different shapes and sizes, from small teams based in a single office to 150 auditors spread geographically across the UK providing insight to 20 different audit committees. He has led projects exploring how to oversome the challenges of building a collaborative assurance environment, anchoring internal audit work so that it makes sense to the business, and turning internal audit work into actionable insights that can really make a difference.

Tim is currently working at Workiva - a group of technologists, engineers, accountants, auditors and business leaders who have come together to transform the way people manage their reporting, risk, control and assurance activities through technology.

In most professions, success requires a combination of competence and influence. This is certainly true for internal auditors whose effectiveness is essential to the ongoing viability of a business. 

Playing the role of “critical friend” is important but not always easy, especially when people are resistant to the criticism part. Speaking truth to power requires courage, resilience, and emotional intelligence.  

How do we become more resilient, compassionate, and courageous? We embrace the ongoing journey of change and growth. Only by taking “the hero’s journey” ourselves, can we legitimately challenge and support others to change and grow.   

This session provides a useful map to signpost the stages every person and organisation must go through to reach more of their potential.

Speaker

Peter Milligan, Director, New Generation Leaders

Peter is an inspirational speaker and business psychologist with three decades of experience in developing business leaders and teams, helping them to have less stress, more joy and greater productivity at work. 

Originally an IT professional, Peter retrained in psychology and joined the management team of a leading Australian HR consulting firm. After moving to the UK in 2000, he became a director of Europe's largest executive coaching firm before establishing his own business in 2005.  

Peter has worked with leaders at all levels across a wide range of industries. His clients have ranged from professional services firms, SMEs and family businesses to larger corporates including Australia Post, AXA, BP, Credit Suisse, First Group, Kerry Foods, Novartis, Oxford University, Origin Energy, Rolls-Royce, Rydges Hotels, and Vodafone.

Environmental, social & governance (ESG) priorities have a financial impact, but they also impact on the expectations of stakeholders – including the role that Internal Audit should play in reporting on ESG information. The role that Internal Audit can play will depend on many factors - maturity of ESG adoption, the change being driven by regulatory bodies, investors, the Government and more. Climate risk in particular is an issue quickly moving up the corporate agenda, and Internal Audit could mitigate the impact of this risk on the business, yet there is a worrying lack of urgency at Board level to take action. There is pressure for organisations to make public commitments to sustainability and provide regular updates that include accurate metrics – so the opportunities and challenges of audit and assurance of ESG information are significant - but where do you start with this new risk area?

Speaker

Sonia Shah FCCA, Head of ESG and Climate Risk, Grant Thornton UK LLP

Sonia is a Financial Regulation Assurance Lead with experience in ESG, Climate Change, Governance Frameworks, Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), Conduct Risk, Operational Resilience, LIBOR, MiFID II, Risk Frameworks and Financial Crime.

She is an ACCA member and assurance and advisory professional with 20 years' experience. She has worked internationally with the C-Suite and Boards across Tier 1 and 2 Financial Services firms, and her global experience includes UK, Africa, Europe, Middle East, North & Central America.

The department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published its whitepaper in March 2021 ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance’; whilst many of these proposals will more closely impact our colleagues in the regulated external audit market, what opportunities exist for internal audit to strengthen its position as a key assurance provider to support management and Board in ensuring effective control, risk and governance arrangements exist and give confidence to external stakeholders over organisational stability.  We’ll look at this, and how the concept of Board Assurance Frameworks and lines of defence (support or assurance) can be used to help organisations’ to better understand, build trust in, and maintain confidence surrounding their control environment.

Speakers

Bryan Foss, Co-founder and director of Risk Coalition

Bryan is an experienced NED across growth firms, regulators, listed companies, financial services, public sector and more – with special interest in technology, risk assurance, good governance, ESG and beneficial outcomes. His career has included continual personal development (CPD) to board level executive, leading to his current mix of non-executive and risk & audit chair roles - often linking his business and systems

Lee Glover FCCA, Director, Haines Watts

Lee leads the Internal Audit practice at Haines Watts and uses his mix of in-house, out-sourced, multisector and client side experience as a non-executive to ensure that Haines Watts delivers an internal audit service to their clients which meets their assurance needs and reflects the wider remit to ‘consult’, ‘add value’ and ‘improve’ their clients’ operations to realise their full potential. He works across the public, private and third sectors; with significant experience in local government, health, housing, NDPBs, regulators, education, funding bodies, charities and financial services.

This session will start with a wrap up of the four earlier session before a panel of Internal Audit Panel members, management expert Robertson Stewart and regulator Jonathan Walters discuss what the metamorphosis of Internal Audit might look like, and whether Internal Audit is sustainable. You can submit questions and comments in advance to UKCL@accaglobal.com – please put Internal Audit Week advance question in the subject line.

Speakers

Robertson Stewart, management expert and coach

Robertson's experience as an employee and manager has now stretched over a period of nearly 40 years. Arriving in France in 1992 and not speaking a word of French, he managed to work his way up from cleaner to General Manager of some of the biggest Luxury Hotels in Europe (three of those hotels with a thousand rooms or more).

During the course of his career, he has led teams from a handful to several hundred. He now teaches management to Masters and Bachelors students in both English and French at reputed management schools in Paris France. He also coaches and mentors executives and managers on an individual basis, and runs a training company with his partner in Paris. His greatest interest and passion is for people management and the way that this is evolving and what it is evolving towards. 

Jonathan Walters, Deputy Director of Strategy and Performance, Regulator of Social Housing

Jonathan leads the RSH Strategy and Performance Team, with responsibility for a wide range of areas including strategic planning, sector analysis, supporting the supply of private finance as well as registrations and regulation of for profit organisations. He has previously worked in both the public and private sectors, including Ernst and Young and social housing consultancy. In addition to his financial expertise, Jonathan holds an MSc in Urban and Regional studies from the University of Birmingham, with a particular interest in regeneration and economic development.

ACCA Internal Audit Panel

Lee Glover and Sarah Pumfrett will bring the roles of professional auditor and NED to this panel discussion.