Internal Audit has taken on a greater responsibility in dealing with Enterprise Risk Management and Compliance. Becoming a trusted business advisor it is creating value across the enterprise.
On 26th & 27th February 2008 in beautiful Barcelona; Jacob Fleming Group continued its success and hosted the 2nd Annual Internal Audit Forum where senior executives from the leading financial institutions shared their knowledge and experience on principles and techniques of successful auditing.
Most relevant issues discussed were dealing with Risk and Compliance obligations and responsibilities, aligning Global Internal Audit teams and ensuring quality Integrated Assurance.
Chairman for the event was Johan Feijen, Senior Vice President, Audit, Rabobank and he led the Forum through the three themes for day one.
The first focus for the day was Organisational Risk Assessment for Audit.
Alessio Miranda, Group Internal Auditor for AIB Group plc introduced his presentation on Risk Management across the Organisation; where he highlighted the benefits of an integrated risk management and how to develop a risk assessment framework. Continuing with the risk theme Sigurjon Geirsson, Group Audit Director, Landsbanki discussed Risk Management Based Auditing sharing how to audit emerging risks and the impact of risk based audit on management, staff expertise and systems & Reporting. Johan Feijen as Basell II Project Manager at Rabobank discussed how Basel II will Create Value for your Organisation.
In the light of the Credit Crisis in the United States our morning speakers in a panel session were eager to discuss further if senior management was adequately and timely informed and if senior management were able to assess the inherent risks? Our delegates too were enthralled in sharing viewpoints on where the role of Internal Audit would better be involved in assessing & reducing risks throughout the organisation.
The next focus for the day was Compliance Issues for Internal Audit.
Klas Eddie Andreasen wears two hats at Danske Bank as Senior Manager, Internal Audit & Compliance and presented as case study of the The MiFID project. An important aspect of Compliance is to create a Culture of Compliance by implementing and handling policies and procedures and providing training and communication to the workforce. This presentation was discussed by Daniel Sandmann, Deutsche Bank AG, Vice President, Compliance.
Finally to wrap up the day Erik Starkov, Swedbank, Deputy Chief Audit Executive covered how to establish Effective Working Relationships with Audit Committees in providing assurance to the Committee.
The panel of speakers for morning of day two brought out the big banks ING Group, BNP Paribas and Barclays to talk about Achieving Best Business Relationships along with admired speaker Tom Palmberg who asked Internal Auditors to consider how they should be seen in the business and becoming strategic partners in Corporate Strategy Development.
Berry Wilson, Chief Auditor Professional Practices Management, ING Group highlighted what the core values, the goal and basic requirements should be when Auditing for Value. Berry was an active participant asking questions to other speakers and his presentation proved to be just as interactive. The audience was keen to question Berry about his role and his team achievements in ING Group.
Kim-Andree Potvin discussed the links of effectiveness in Internal Audit to the Quality Assurance Review process and comments from the audience cited the presentation to be very practical and useful to take back into the workplace. James Turner, Barclays, Audit Director addressed how to achieve Popularity vs. Respect and how to achieve both in a presentation about Maintaining Close Relationship Business Partners.
The last focus of the conference was Achieving Global Auditing. This practical session showcased two case studies from Dexia and KBC Group. The first presentation was from Julian Nichols, WestLB, Head of Group Audit, London as introduction into Global Auditing in organization of a global audit team and focusing on managing and developing the team. Dexia’s case study by Leslie Foster, Group Head of Audit illustrates their experience and success in integrating an acquisition into the business. The last case study of the day was from KBC Group, Luc Aerts, Program Manager Audit – Ensuring Consistency throughout a Global Audit Organisation. Luc discussed the pro’s & con’s in balancing local presence with global consistency and the costs associated as drivers for organizational solutions.
The positive comments I received during the conference were further consolidated by the feedback from the evaluation forms as the overall satisfaction of the conference was highly rated.
We all at the Jacob Fleming Finance Team are all looking forward to another successful 3rd Annual Internal Audit Conference in 2009.
Tersha Morrison
Senior Conference Producer
Jacob Fleming Group
