report on anniversary december 2015 (q4) audi wire …...work hard, play hard. it's important...

December 2015 (Q4) Audi WIRE

Leaders, be lean and smart

Transitioning into a lean operation can seem like a monumental task. You want to be more efficient, you want to improve quality and consistency of output, and to cut down on waste. The problem is, there is so much to do it is a daunting undertaking. Here are 3 suggestions for you to consider: 1. You don’t have to fix everything today. The first thing to do is relax. You don’t need to do everything all at once. Think of the Pareto principle, sometimes referred to as the 80/20 rule. About 80 percent of the changes you want to make can be achieved with 20 percent of the effort needed for the entire process. Focus on the easiest, most obvious areas first with the things that will have the most impact. You can work on those higher-level problems later. 2. Focus on organization and efficiency. For most small-to-medium sized enterprises, there is plenty of room to improve in these two critical areas. Here are a three things to focus on today:

The customer. How can you better serve your customers’ needs? Think of ways to give them better value for their money. How can you provide your product or service to them better, faster, or cheaper?

Understand how work gets done. Do you know the steps in the process? Documenting these can help you discover inefficiencies. You can consider flowcharting, mind mapping to name a few

Organize work/production areas. Does your work area promote efficiency? Are items placed in convenient and logical places? Is there inventory or equipment that is unused or obsolete? Find ways to eliminate waste—things that waste space, time, money, or effort.

3. Develop a "continuous improvement" mindset.

It is important to remember that lean isn’t just a "fix-it" solution. It’s a business lifestyle change. It’s the equivalent of making sure your business eats a healthy diet and exercise every day.

For many businesses, lean works well at the outset, but then fails because leadership reverts to traditional business practices.

A lean leader must develop a healthy,

continuous improvement "lifestyle" and promote it throughout the organization on a consistent, sustained basis. This means empowering people at all levels to find improvement—then recognizing and rewarding their efforts. It is critical for management to buy into this concept upfront nd understand that it is crucial to stick with it.

Newsletter

REPORT ON ANNIVERSARY WEEK 3 Q&A WITH DANNY 5 GOLDBERG CHAPTER MEETING 6 CHRISTMAS COCKTAIL 2015 8

Audi Wire

MARCH 2016 (Q1)


How to have Happy Workers In order for a company to succeed it requires a workforce that is dedicated to the corporate vision. A workforce will innately be more effective and efficient when a company's leaders provide a positive environment and keep their workers happy. Here are five reasons why successful companies—the kinds of enterprises people want to work for—have happy workers. Practice open communication and trust. Everyone has ideas. But the most successful organization understands that it's in their best interest to listen to what employees are saying. This goes for everyone in the organization, from front-line workers to C-level executives. In order for open communication to occur, every person must feel comfortable coming forward with a solution or idea. This open-door policy builds trust. Successful companies foster a trust triangle based on three elements: relationships, decisions, and execution. All three are essential. If one is missing, trust won't come easily, or at all. Create a career path. People strive for a better future, and a career is a big part of it. If you create an environment where each employee can envision their professional future with your company, those individuals will be encouraged to stay. Advanced education opportunities, internal training and mentorship, combined with a documented plan will assist in creating a career path for employees.

Offer benefits that are above and beyond what's expected. Perks are always what a potential employee is going to want to know what you got! Unique benefits that cater to your employees will go further in hiring those A-players! Flexible work options, education allowances, bonus structures, expense allowances and other perks will create HR buzz. Be creative with it! Establish a conflict resolution tool. Conflict is going to happen, even with a happy workforce. It's important to implement a conflict resolution tool and to train staff how to use. Encourage employees to resolve conflict among themselves before escalating to their manager. Remember: open communication equals a happy workforce. Celebrate! Work hard, play hard. It's important to celebrate success on a personal, team and corporate level. Rewarding your employees will give them recognition for their efforts, and the chance to have fun. Of course, there are many ways to keep your employees happy but these are a handful to start implementing today.


Report on Anniversary Week 2015: “Aspiring Towards Greater

Organizational Returns”

As the IIATT continues to push the envelope in advocating for improving the quality and effectiveness of the internal audit function as a whole, the Professional Development Committee (PDC) once again undertook the responsibilities of developing and rolling out activities to educate audit practitioners and other professionals in very relevant and topical areas of interest in the appropriately themed “Aspiring Towards Greater Organizational Returns” week of activities. In a fast-changing business environment, an organization’s Internal Audit function must adapt and evolve in order to stay relevant to key stakeholders. Of recent, there have been major changes: the political environment, the economic landscape, the human resources paradigm shift, and the very relevant premise of our Board’s expectation of Internal Audit as they continue to demand more from the function. The realization for skills needs; bourgeoning competency gaps; the results of our past Seminars and Training Weeks Surveys in which members, participants and executives revealed and their organizations are faced with a barrage of unethical conduct, including fraud, bribery and corruption; and an increased pressure to produce growth, profit and results amongst challenging conditions. It was therefore against these expectations that the week’s activities focused on Fraud, Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), Continuous Auditing (CA) and IT Auditing analytics. As customary the week of activities was hosted at the

very well-equipped training facilities at Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Champ Fleurs and was conducted through the period 26-30 October 2015. The participants represented a broad range of organisations in both public and private sectors and there was refreshing representations from members of Regional Chapters of Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica. The event was chaired by Vice President Professional Development, Florence Lee-Bhagwandass and was opened by the Chairwoman—Natasha Wilson and President—Camille Cumberbatch-Dhoray also offered welcoming remarks. All speakers echoed the need for greater advisory services and a desire for broader Internal Audit coverage using more efficient techniques as the range and nature of Internal Audit activity being performed within organisations has changed with an increased demand for far more complex engagements. The Mayor of Port of Spain, Mr. Raymond Tim Kee brought greetings and declared the week of activities open. The first seminar offered a ubiquitous perspective on Fraud Auditing. Danny Goldberg presented on the fundamentals Fraud and Fraud Interviewing and provided a discourse on best practices by internal audit to inform a proactive approach to fraud by integrating fraud audit techniques into the internal audit process. Fraud prone areas as well as current and ‘Hot Topics’ were adequately addressed. Participants were directed on the basics of fraud auditing, including monitoring activities, understanding the nature of fraud and how it occurs. Much dialogue was undertaken on Fraud auditing techniques and tools and exploring the profession’s role in detecting fraud and identifying red flags. Since Continuous Auditing (CA) has changed the internal auditing paradigm from periodic reviews of a small sample of transactions to on-going audit testing


of volumes of transactions; Danny’s other offering on 28th and 29th of October focused on identifying what must be done to make effective use of information technology in support of continuous auditing. CA’s role in the overall Risk Assessment process was explored in depth through an exploration of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) theory and further punctuated with concepts on continuous Monitoring (CM), the COSO 2013 framework, Benford’s Law and culminated in Fraud, Interviewing and Risk Assessments techniques. Kathy Ann Nicholson presented her Part Two of IT Auditing for Non-IT Auditors as the final seminar for the week. She covered the concepts and good practices that encompass an audit of IT software applications. Her offering provided participants with an overview of topics ranging from IT software architecture, IT organization structures, and IT application process and their inherent risks. Kathy also delivered on a focused range of topics including application software business processes; databases and operating systems; planning the IT Applications audit; IT application controls testing; IT Risk Assessment; and introduced participants to the role of the IT Auditor and approaches for auditing different software applications. Both presenters were soundly qualified and competent having had an array of experience and backgrounds which allowed them to relay practical experiences, insights, and views at a global level. They gave a good impression and understanding of the many perspectives that the participant could easily assimilate and incorporated facilitated discussions and practical exercises throughout.

In conclusion, the presentations at this year’s final week of activities touched on the global and topical areas of Fraud, Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), Continuous Auditing (CA) and IT Auditing analytics such that the audit professional capacities could be enhanced and or developed as a range of tools and best practice techniques were afforded them at this event. In closing, “Aspiring Towards Greater Organizational Returns" was appropriately themed and was well received by our membership and other business professional.

Vice President Professional Development

Florence Lee Bhagwandass


Q&A with Danny Goldberg Question #1: Tell us about your visit to Trinidad. Answer: I was there for 4 days; the hospitality of the Trini people is incomparable; they treated me like a relative the actually like or a minor celebrity – I could not ask for a more hospitable welcome! Question #2: What are the top downfalls or shortcomings of audit departments? Explain what measures can be implemented to overcome them. Answer: I would say the biggest issues are being short-sighted; being limited by management support or lack of and a lack of understanding of what audit does. I think a constant marketing/outreach is key to the success of any strong IA department. I believe, in any situation, if management sees the significant value we can bring to an organization, they will be supportive. Question #3: What is your view on auditors being independent of all operations versus assisting in developing operational procedures?

Answer: I think Independence is any excuse some auditors use to NOT take chances. As long as we don’t take on the role of management (e.g. make the decisions) we can do whatever it takes to help the company achieve its objectives. Question #4: Explain your view on if auditors

should be proactive and perform advisory work if it deems a company's procedures to be inefficient versus not getting involved. Answer: I think my answer above is very supportive of doing what it takes to help the company achieve its objectives. Even if we impair our independence, by communicating transparently the risks involved (and before we are impaired), IA should be well protected. Question #5: Explain why the annual audit plan should be dynamic versus static. Answer: In today’s economic climate and the continuous onslaught of social media news, no company’s risk is static. Risk Assessments must be dynamic to continually assess the emerging risk profile of any company. Question #6: What are key elements for the Audit function to be seen as a Leader in the Value chain for Organizations? Answer: Continued transparency in our profession will push understanding out to the field and that we are not just after the fact auditors but aligned with the organization’s needs. Why can’t we share the risk assessment with clients? Why can’t we give the clients our audit work programs before auditing? Falsification and documentation clean up are two very different ends of the spectrum; but we are looking for systemic issues to address – not just the easy, simple stuff that the organization might not place as much value on.


4th Chapter Meeting of 2015 themed:

“The Forensics of Cybercrime”

CYBERCRIME is becoming one of the fastest growing areas of crime, to the extent that many global economies are now facing the harsh realities of this developing phenomenon.

Leading expert in the field of digital forensics and cyber security, Dr. Darren Hayes, articulated deeply on this issue at a seminar themed, “The Forensics of Cybercrime” facilitated recently by the Institute of Internal Auditors, ACCA Caribbean and the British – Caribbean Chamber of Commerce. Hayes is the director of cyber security and an Assistant Professor at Pace University, New York. He is listed as one of the top ten computer forensics professors by Forensics colleges, and has developed a computer forensics program at Pace, including a computer forensics research laboratory at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. In providing a 360 degree perspective on this scourge, Hayes articulated on the major factors that contribute to the challenges being experienced within both local and international communities.

Attention and focus must also be paid to the types of organizations which would be most vulnerable and at risk to incidents of cybercrime. In responding to this, Hayes stated: “Small businesses that accept credit card payments may be at risk, due to the fact that they may not be fully resourced with IT security staff as well as the latest software.” Looking beyond the present, Hayes has suggested that governments, businesses and individuals, exercise greater vigilance, foresight and monitoring which can be an excellent start in addressing the issue of cybercrime. Dr. Darren R. Hayes delivered an information packed session which was fully subscribed. A special thank you to ACCA and the British-Caribbean Chamber of Commerce for collaborating with the Chapter to make this event possible. Thanks to all who attended the 4th chapter meeting themed: ”The Forensics of Cybercrime” on November 26th, 2015.


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Annual Christmas Cocktail & Charity Drive 2015

In keeping with the spirit of giving back to our Community, IIATT is pleased to bring holiday cheer to two Charity groups. 1. L’Hospice - the L’Hospice is one of the oldest

institutions of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago, and was founded in 1857. This home for the elderly is under the generous care of the Carmelite Nuns and houses over 30 residence.

2. Family In Need - this is the second year that

IIATT has assisted a Family In Need during the Christmas period and hope to continue this Drive every year.

The Chapter would also like to thank the following sponsors for donating hampers and gift items towards our Annual Christmas Cocktail 2015. It is through the kind generosity of these sponsors that made this event memorable, and we say THANK YOU! Bermudez Group

Limited Holiday Snacks

Limited

Massy Distributions Massy Stores Limited

Telecommunication Services of T & T

Grace Kennedy Company Limited

Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited

Caribbean Bottlers (T&T) Limited

Angostura Limited Alstons Marketing Co. Limited

Pictures of the Charity Drive and Annual Christmas Cocktail are highlighted.


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Phone: (868) 625-5558 Fax: (868) 623-4560 Mobile: (868) 769-1671

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Website: http://www.iia-tt.org

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report on anniversary december 2015 (q4) audi wire …...work hard, play hard. it's important...

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