Audit Committee and Corporate Governance

The European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) Founded in 1982 Confederation of 32 countries Management Board from 8 countries No individual members only countries Representing approx. 30,000 internal auditors

ECIIA Purpose To represent internal audit to European Union and any other European institutions of influence To promote the profession within the wider geographic area of Europe and the Mediterranean basin

Monitor the effectiveness of the company’s: - internal control, - internal audit where applicable - risk management systems Very broad assignment from risk identification to risk management and check of the efficiency of the internal control procedures Control organisation is complex

How can the audit committee achieve its reinforced role ? The Audit Committee is ideally placed – It has free access to any individual, information, data – It can ask for external resources with management agreement But : – It has limited member resources and time – It is very difficult to encompass a very large organisation

What are some of the ingredients to be successful ? (1/2) Build an Audit Committee with the right profiles (skills & behaviours) and good understanding of the business Develop a strong interaction with Internal Audit Review carefully the company risk mapping and risk assessment Get a sense of the risk culture in the field Discuss with management out of formal committees

What are some of the ingredients to be successful ? (2/2) Be flexible – a yearly approach is out of date Require well structured information from the company Build a network of Audit Committees in large organisation to be closer to the business Think in term of system, view all the risk stakeholders as a combination

Key points Quality of individuals Company culture Internal audit link Control system A challenging new posture for Audit Committees