Most organisations today run far more “audit-like” activity than what’s on the internal audit plan. Internal audit is doing its risk-based work. Internal control teams are running design reviews and key control testing. Compliance, IT, ESG and external consultants are … Read More
You do not get many chances with the Board. If your control metrics look disconnected from risk, hard to interpret, or meaningless, you lose the room very quickly. Your goal is simple: show whether the company is within risk appetite, … Read More
Ensuring a strong internal control environment in fast-growing start-ups comes with its own unique challenges. Headcount doubles, new markets open, more tools are added – but the internal controls are still built for a 10–20 person team. At some point, … Read More
Most companies don’t suffer from a lack of controls — they suffer from ineffective controls. Documentation exists and audits pass, yet when pressure hits (new markets, M&A, system go-lives), things still break. Gaps are rarely technical; they’re usually operational — … Read More
We know the world will not be the same after COVID. Not for us as individuals and not for the companies we work for. The vast majority of business are being forced to change (or to accelerate change processes already kicked … Read More
In these last few days, a lot of us became part of remote-working teams because of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Some of us were already used to this way of working, for others it’s a new challenge. If you were … Read More
Journalist Sydney J. Harris said, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” I cannot agree more. When you stand in front of a mirror, the only things you see are your reflection and a limited area … Read More
A few months ago, I ran a survey on the top challenges of internal control professionals within my professional network around the globe. Three of the top challenges reported were a “lack of understanding of the importance of internal controls”, … Read More
Nowadays there are a lot of discussions around how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are going to impact the GRC world. But what really strikes my curiosity, more than the theoretical discussions around future AI applications, is … Read More
As for a lot of things in life, consistency is one of the keys to success. The same goes for your personal brand: consistency of behaviors is essential to build a successful personal brand over time. That’s it. But don’t … Read More