Key areas for Internal Audit in 2020.

Each year, many of the ‘Big 4’ and various other groups release what they consider to be the hot topics or key focus areas for Internal Audit. We have previously spoken about the Risk in Focus 2020 report, released by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors in September 2019, but in this post, we will compare what the CIIA consider to be the risk areas for 2020, with that of other reports.

So who are we comparing? We have pulled together various reports, and have come to the following:

• Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors
• KPMG (both general Internal Audit and IT Internal Audit)
• PwC
• Deloitte
• Gartner

It should be noted that this isn’t a tidy comparison, with Deloitte and PwC both focusing primarily on the Financial Services industry. Nevertheless, a review of each of the reports identified some key theme’s. The diagram below shows the key themes identified from each of the reports:

As the diagram above shows, the most common areas for consideration by Internal Audit functions include:

• Governance and risk culture
• Cyber Security
• New Regulation / Compliance
• Business Resilience and Continuity
• Transformation and Automation

The five above-mentioned topic areas were included in each of the reports we reviewed from the CIIA, KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Gartner.

You can review each of the reports by clicking on the images and links below. We have also included each of the areas / topics for consideration within each of the reports.

Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors

Areas for consideration per the Risk in Focus 2020 report by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors include:

• Cybersecurity & data privacy: rising expectations of internal audit
• The increasing regulatory burden
• Digitalisation & business model disruption
• Looking beyond third parties
• Business resilience, brand value & reputation
• Financial risks: from low returns to rising debt
• Geopolitical instability & the macroeconomy
• Human capital: the organisation of the future
• Governance, ethics & culture: the exemplary organisation
• Climate change: risk vs opportunity

Access the full document here.

KPMG

Areas for consideration per the Top 10 in 2020 report by KPMG include:

• Intelligent automation
• Data analytics and insights
• Technology transformation
• Cybersecurity
• Compliance and regulations
• Distributed enterprise
• Culture risk
• Corporate responsibility
• Protectionism and sanctions
• Workforce demographics

Access the full document here.

Areas for consideration per the Insights to take you forward ; IT Internal Audit Planning for 2020 by KPMG include:

• Third-party Risk Management (TPRM)
• Identity Access Management (IAM)
• Intelligent automation
• DevOps and Agile Development
• SOX testing and GITCs
• Business change
• Regulatory compliance
• Accounting standards changes
• IT governance
• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Access the full document here.

Deloitte

Areas for consideration per the Financial Services Internal Audit 2020 by Deloitte include:

• IBOR Reform
• Consumer Finance – motor finance and beyond
• Algorithmic Trading
• Tax Compliance – FATCA and CRS
• Tax Strategies and Responsible Tax
• Operational Resilience
• Financial Crime
• Credit Risk Transformation
• Stress Testing
• Model Risk Management
• Governance Culture in Financial Services
• Second Line of Defence
• Risk Appetite and Risk Culture
• Psychological Safety
• Remuneration – Risk and Reward
• IFRS 17, ifrs 9
• Climate Change
• Customer Journeys and Culture
• Retail Conduct – Customer Affordability and Vulnerability
• Market Conduct
• Cyber Resilience
• Disruptive Technologies and Digitalisation
• Blockchain
• Cloud Governance and Security
• Data Privacy and GDPR

Please note, this document is focused purely on Financial Services industry.

Access the full document here.

Gartner

Areas for consideration per the 2020 Audit Plan Hot Spots Report Excerpt by Gartner include:

• Data Governance
• Third-Party Ecosystems
• Cyber Vulnerabilities
• Data Privacy
• Risk Culture and Decision Making
• Project Management
• IT Governance
• Regulator Developments
• Organisational Resilience
• Supply Chain
• Strategic Workforce Planning
• Artifical Intelligence (AI)

Access the full document here.

PwC

Areas for consideration per the Internal Audit Planning 2020 by PwC include:

Governance, Accountability and Conduct

• Customer Outcomes
• Emerging Technology
• Operational Resilience, Cyber Security, Outsourcing and Change Management
• Insurance-specific themes

Please note, this document is focused purely on Financial Services industry.

Access the full document here.