Risk Assessment and Compliance Management

Risk Assessment and Compliance Management

IT Audit Services and Information Risk Management

JAT’s risk advisory and consulting service assists clients manage technology and financial and operational risk independently and interdependently so they can focus on the continual success of their core businesses. Understanding our client’s businesses allow us to quickly uncover hidden issues and convert them to opportunities for improved performance, control, and reduction of risk. All while bringing transparency to financial and IT operations and reporting.

External Quality Assessments of Internal Audit Departments
Fulfilling IIA and International Standards for Professional Practice

Beginning 2007, in order for a company’s internal audit department to be able to claim their practices are "in accordance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing and in line with IIA standards”, internal auditors will have to undergo an external quality assessment of their work every five years. Before the standard was adopted on January 1, 2002, getting such an audit every three years was merely a recommendation. Internal audit departments that existed before then, will have to undergo an external assessment by January 1, 2007. To sustain IIA and International certification, internal auditors must undergo an external quality assessment every five years.

In turn, a successful assessment of the internal audit team and their processes enables individual internal auditors to fulfill this requirement for certification by the IIA and the related International Standards for Professional Practice of Internal Auditing.

A JAT Risk Solutions’ external assessment complies totally with PCAOB, IIA and International standards and provides for a company to display the expertise of its internal audit department, according to the IIA and International Auditing standards.

JAT Risk Solution’s approach provides other benefits according to Ley Watson, CPA and Director of Internal Audit at Union Bankshares, Inc. "The value of quality monitoring is for the internal auditors and company audit committees themselves to get constant, objective and experienced based feedback on how well they perform” according to Watson. "For employers of internal auditors, this is [also] evidence they are dealing with professionals."

JAT Risk Solutions’ assessment evaluates compliance with the IIA's and International Standards for Professional Practice of Internal Auditing standards, the company's internal audit and audit committee charters, its risk and control assessment, and its use of best practices. Our review also includes an assessment of the structure of the audit department, its chain of command, and its operational independence. At the review’s conclusion JATRS provides a summary list of findings for internal audit management discussion and a final report which is submitted to the board audit committee and senior management.

The results of an assessment, of course, can differ widely from company to company. "In one case, a strong internal audit function that gets past the standards compliance piece quickly, JAT Risk Solutions is able to focus on ideas and enhancements rather than problems," observes Jackson, partner of JAT Risk Solutions internal audit services. On the other hand, Jackson has observed situations in which assessments that unearthed operational difficulties resulted in reports that were "not flattering to internal audit."

JATRS’s external reviewers represent over 100 years of internal audit experience including over 85 years of audit management, including board reporting. Our team of reviewers set and discuss specific priorities with clients in order to be completely successful in assessing their internal auditors. "It is important that the review not just be a 'checklist' appropriate to conformance with standards," says Jackson.

The problem with a checklist approach that is employed by many big four firms is that it inefficiently applies the same standard of comparison to risks both big and small. That can increase the cost and distort the results of an important internal-audit review by causing the reviewer to place too much stress on insignificant issues and vice versa. "Not all key controls or internal audit charters and departments are created equal," he notes.

Contact JAT Risk Solutions, LLC for further compliance requirements information, or to request an internal audit review proposal.

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