Internal Audit Standards Board

Internal Audit Standards Board

Action Plan (2012-2013)

The President had recently unveiled a detailed action plan for the Institute for the year 2012-2013. The Plan identified the following as the areas of strategic focus:

·  Assume Leadership position in national, regional and international accounting fraternity

·  Adapt the regulatory mechanism to changing times

·  Create enabling framework for Indian firms and professionals to leverage national and global opportunities

·  Revitalize education and training systems and establish an enabling ecosystem to produce globally competitive accounting professionals

·  Undertake branding and awareness campaign to enhance public perception of ICAI and professionals affiliated to ICAI

·  Strengthen infrastructure and technological capabilities to improve engagement with all stakeholders.

Board and the Action Plan

In its Action Plan/ Road Map, the Board has endeavoured to align its activities for the year with the areas of strategic focus outlined in the President’s Action Plan, to the extent applicable to the working of the Board.

In the year 2012-13, the activities of the Internal Audit Standards Board will be broadly divided into following six strategic focus areas:

I. / Developing high quality technical literature on internal audit, risk management, internal control and related areas
II. / Holding of Certificate Course on Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit and Concurrent Audit of Banks
III. / Creating awareness on emerging issues through quarterly e-newsletter “Internal Audit and Beyond”
IV. / Carrying out Research on national basis to better understand the needs and perceptions of heads of internal audit
V. / Seminars/ Workshops/ Conferences with following focus areas:
·  Industry specific Seminars
·  “How to audit….” Series of Seminars for various functional areas
·  Dedicated Workshops on “Improving Internal Audit Through Information Technology”
VI. / Webcasts to keep members informed about emerging issues

The detailed Action Plan is given below.

I. Developing high quality technical literature on internal audit, risk management, governance, internal control and related areas

A.  STANDARDS ON INTERNAL AUDIT

(i)  Issuance of Standard on Internal Audit “Related Parties”

(ii)  Developing Standards on Internal Audit on following areas

·  Risk Assessment and Risk Response

·  Direct Interaction with Board

·  Proficiency

·  Quality Assurance and Improvement Program

·  Independence

·  Policies and Procedures

(iii)  Identifying more areas for issuance of SIAs

B.  INDUSTRY SPECIFIC TECHNICAL GUIDES

(i)  Non-Profit Organisations

(ii)  Power Sector

(iii)  IT – Software Development

(iv)  Mining and Extraction Industries

(v)  Municipalities and Local Bodies

(vi)  Healthcare

(vii)  Hotels/ Tourism

(viii)  Textile

(ix)  Aviation

(x)  Agriculture and Agro Products

(xi)  Food Processing

(xii)  Advertisement & Publicity

(xiii)  Non-Banking Financial Companies

(xiv)  General Insurance Companies

(xv)  Auto & Ancillary

(xvi)  Fast Moving Consumer Goods

(xvii)  Entertainment

(xviii) Shipping

(xix)  Newspaper

(xx)  Waste Management Company

(xxi)  Social Media

C.  GENERIC GUIDES

(i)  Auditing Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

(ii)  Auditing Sustainability KPIs

(iii)  Cloud Computing – Audit and Risk Strategies

(iv)  Improving Internal Audit through Information Technology

(v)  Study on Designing Internal Audit Charter

(vi)  Guide on Monitoring Internal Control

(vii)  Business Process Re-engineering and Internal Audit

(viii)  Guide on Internal Audit of Tendering Process

(ix)  Demonstrating value of internal audit to audit committees

(x)  Auditing Shared Services

(xi)  Internal auditor’s role in off-balance sheet items

(xii)  Carbon trading, offsets and renewable energy credits

(xiii)  Issues pertaining to internal audit in the public sector

(xiv)  Internal audit and Disaster Recovery Planning

D.  REVISION OF EXISTING PUBLICATIONS

(i)  Manual on Concurrent Audit of Banks

(ii)  Manual on Internal Audit

(iii)  Training Material on Internal Audit

(iv)  Internal Control Questionnaire

(v)  Treasury Function in Banks

(vi)  Life Insurance Business

II. / Holding of Certificate Course on Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit and Concurrent Audit of Banks

The Board is conducting following three Certificate Courses:

(i)  Certificate Course on Enterprise Risk Management

Till date four batches of the Certificate Course on ERM have been conducted at various places in the country.

(ii)  Certificate Course on Internal Audit

The Certificate Course on Internal Audit was launched by the Internal Audit Standards Board last year and one batch has been held at Centre for Excellence at Hyderabad.

(iii)  Certificate Course on Concurrent Audit of Banks

The Certificate Course on Concurrent Audit of Banks has been approved by the Council in December, 2011. The Board is in the process to launch the first batch of the Certificate Course shortly.

For the above Courses, the Board needs to decide the following important issues:

(i)  Date and Venue so that Announcements can be issued with appropriate time gap so that maximum registrations are received.

(ii)  Marketing strategy so that more and more members are able to perceive the benefits from these Certificate Courses.

(iii)  Course co-ordinator

(iv)  Background material

(v)  Examination.

III. / Creating awareness on emerging issues through quarterly e-newsletter “Internal Audit and Beyond”

The Board has issued the first edition of it’s quarterly e-newsletter (January - March, 2012) “Internal Audit and Beyond”. The aim of the e-newsletter is to create awareness and understanding about internal auditing as a vibrant, growing, global profession that is deeply rooted in the concepts of transparency, reliability, effectiveness and ethics. This newsletter is a means to provide valuable content on best practices and topical issues within the internal auditing profession.

The E-newsletter includes following features:

(i)  Message of President, Vice-President, ICAI, Chairman, IASB, Vice-Chairman, IASB

(ii)  Information about new publications issued by IASB

(iii)  Announcement on Seminars/ Conferences/ Workshops organised by IASB

(iv)  Articles on Internal Audit

(v)  International updates relating to internal audit, risk management, internal control, governance and related areas

(vi)  Case Study.

IV. / Carrying out Research on national basis to better understand the needs and perceptions of heads of internal audit

In order to better understand the needs and perceptions of heads of internal audit, a research on national basis may be conducted by the Board. An expert may be entrusted with the task of preparing a brief questionnaire covering important aspects of the internal auditing profession. The key findings of the survey will provide analysis of current state and would give insight to future trends and leading practices in the field of internal audit in India. This would, thus, also help to prepare a Whitepaper on “Future of Internal Auditing Profession in India”.

V. / Seminars/ Workshops/ Conferences with following focus areas:
·  Industry specific Seminars
·  “How to audit….” Series of Seminars for various functional areas
·  Dedicated Workshops on “Improving Internal Audit Through Information Technology”

(i)  Industry Specific Seminars

·  Real estate and construction

·  Power

·  Not-for-Profit organizations

·  Retail Sector

·  Insurance Sector

·  Mutual Fund

·  Financial Services

(ii)  “How to audit….” Series of Seminars for various functional areas

·  Marketing

·  Procurement

·  Management Consulting

·  Management Information

(iii)  Dedicated Workshops on “Improving Internal Audit Through Information Technology”

·  Developing IT Audit Plan

·  Data Analysis Technologies

·  Auditing IT Projects

·  Auditing Application Controls

·  Information Technology Outsourcing

·  Fraud Prevention and Detection in an Automated World

·  Managing and Auditing Privacy Risks

VI. / Webcasts to keep members informed about emerging issues

The Board can identify emerging issues relating to internal audit, risk management, internal control, governance and related areas and organise webcasts for the benefit of the members. Some topics which may be covered are:

(i)  New paradigms in Risk Management

(ii)  Assessing the internal audit function

(iii)  Internal audit – Importance of Quality of Working Papers

(iv)  Risks in Cloud Based Services

(v)  Changing Corporate Governance Landscape and it’s Implications

(vi)  Technology Risks and Controls

(vii)  Managing Outsourcing and Off-shoring Risks

(viii)  IFRS – Implications for Internal Auditors