Business Unit Business Unit And Internal Audit Assessment Report: Fill & Download for Free

Risk and risk management is fundamental to all business activity (and life!).A good Enterprise Risk Management Program in business draws on what's happened in the past (with the help of audit and business line self-assessments), sees what's happening in the present (by reviewing current activities, capabilities and limitations, usually expressed through financials and monitored through various metrics, and understanding compliance or regulatory mandates, stakeholders' interests, and existing resources, including staff, vendor, supplier, technology and customer relationships) to develop and apply an approach to manage risk so as to achieve a desired future (strategy and goals) and avoid and mitigate potential pitfalls (both catastrophic failures and missed opportunities).The first step is to understand an organization holistically, and identify key drivers and contributors to strategic goals, as expressed by executive management. Metrics can be either quantitative or qualitative, depending on the objectives and the organization. Then, through a continuous process of identification, quantification, monitoring and risk assessment reporting, executive management is able to make better-informed decisions as to how to manage risk (through mitigation, avoidance, etc.), and even more importantly, how to map and achieve the desired future of the organization.In small organizations with good, regular communication, ERM is merely an aspect of executive management's job, shared by all. As companies grow and become increasingly broad and complex, unique tools, documentation, and efficient, consistent, and well-communicated risk management processes and practices become more important, and an effective ERM team is able to prioritize and highlight information critical to decision-makers - sort of like a highly efficient, highly customized search and feed for a CEO or division head.There are varying philosophies of ERM dependent on industry, consulting firm sponsorship, and host country. COSO and ANZ standards were most popular, for some time; ISO 3100 has gained traction; and the RMA (risk management association - banking) and various insurance organizations all have their own takes. Quantitative finance principles, obviously, have tremendous bearing on enterprise risk management; and organizations such as GARP (global association of risk professionals) or PRMIA (Professional Risk Managers International Association) focus on that, specifically market and credit risk, with some operational risk as well (behavioral and operational risks have always been notoriously difficult to quantify). The OCEG focuses on more qualitative, reputational aspects of enterprise risk management, namely Board governance, ethics, and organziational hierarchies and policy development within a firm. Wikipedia actually has a decent entry on the subject, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_risk_managementI developed and built an Enterprise Risk Management program for a regional United States bank, several years ago, and saw first-hand how different programs and analyses were instructive but often failed to fit; many of the touted solutions are like a cheap suit, and without significant customization require lots of effort to provide limited value. In order to be truly effective and efficient, an Enterprise Risk Management process needs to fit an organization like Batman's costume, providing strength, protection, and special tools to vanquish the forces that stymie corporate success.

Chartered accountants work as Finance Managers, Financial Controllers, Financial Advisers or Directors (Finance) and watch over the finances in the day to day management of companies. Their main areas of work include Accountancy, Auditing, Cost accountancy, Taxation, Investigation and Consultancy.The accounting department prepares, analyses financial reports and documents of an organisation. Auditing involves checking the accuracy of the financial statements, ensuring that the accounts presented are drawn up on correct accounting principles. Cost Accountancy involves maintaining cost auditing records, compiling cost information, installing cost control and performing cost audits. Taxation involves dealing with direct taxes, like income tax and wealth tax, assessment of taxes, filing returns and providing advice on indirect taxes. Investigation include expert examination of specific aspects of businesses for the information of interested parties on new issues of share capital, the purchase, sale or financing of a business and for reconstruction. The various areas of consulting include Management accounting and internal audit, corporate law advice, project planning and finance, business advise, systems design and information consultancy. Chartered Accountants also act as directors, arbitrators for settling disputes, handling work related to insolvency, bankruptcy etc. and also as executors under a will or trust in order to carry out the administration of an estate or settlements. They are also engaged in activities like markets research, budget planning, working capital management, inventory control, policy planning, securities consultancy, registrar of issues of securities etc.Some of the opportunities available for Chartered Accountants are in capital markets, business houses and industry. They can also have their own consultancy or private practice which could be more lucrative and satisfying. With the country liberalizing its policies and approach, opportunities are expected to grow further.They are also well placed in government sector as director finance, chief executive or the Head Of the Department of the accounts, information technology etc. They help the government for proper implementation of accounting system.Other career option: After passing the CA examination one could go for management Accountancy course; courses like Diploma in Insurance and Diploma in Information System Auditing.Prospects Abroad :Institute of CA of India is well recognized by Institute of England, Wales and Australia. The members of ICAI can do practice or they can go for employment in these countries. ICAI is not approved by several countries like United States of America. Since ICAI is a member of the international Federation of Accountants committee and also international federation of Accounting Standard board, one can do their services in these countries. But for practicing they should undergo a particular examination conducting by the respective countries. The examination conducted by UNA is called CPA, Certified Public Accountant Examination.Thank You.

I am going to describe on the basis of my current role to be able to answer this question.When I was working with Big 4, I was mainly involved in local statutory audits (except for one audit for which all of us were sent to Union of Comoros). I grew tired of doing the repeated statutory audits where I was not adding any value to my work and decided to switch roles and, till date, I am working in an Internal Audit function.In most of the companies, Internal Audit involves travelling. The percentage of travels would vary as per the geographical coverage of the business; the number of risks identified and the locations targeted as part of the global risk assessment; any ad hoc assignments not part of the original audit plan for the year or the number of audits taken up by the Audit Board for the year that increases the travel percentage.If the company in which you’re working has global operations (like in my case) covering different regions, the travel also increases because the Internal Audit function is a corporate function and they are predominantly based in Head Office, except in few instances where there is a need to have an Internal Auditor in one of the local offices due to the size of the business or the number of recurring risks arising during the year which requires an experienced Internal Auditor to be present in that location.Based on my experience of being in this field for almost 3 years, I came across the following benefits of going on audits outside your home office:-a) You get an opportunity to interact with different business units which might not happen if you’re in your home officeb) You get the first hand experience of the working culture in the office you’re visiting. It’s interesting to see how within the same group, the work culture variesc) All the audit related issues are discussed; verified and reported on site rather than doing it remotely so as to allow the process owners to understand the issue more clearly and provide for any explanations and supporting evidence if needed (only before the closing meeting)d) During the weekend, one could get a chance to explore the city, which you might not have visited on a regular circumstances. In short, audit travels increases your number of country visitsAll the audit travels requires companies to arrange for stay in 4-star / 5-star hotels along with transportation to and from airport and to the local office; food and other costs (entertainment allowance as per company policy). However, these benefits differ from company to company because some allow their staff to be on actual spend while some would expect their staff to be on per diem (which I feel is unjust to the employees when they are travelling to locations where living costs are high). Some companies would make their staff stay in low category hotels only to save costs and put cuts on other costs such as keeping food bills to a certain limit due to budgetary constraints, which results in staff displeasure. However, this is not the only disadvantage of being in a role which requires business travel because this depends from company to company. Some of the downsides of going on audit tours is as follows:-a) Constant travels from home location affects the employee’s family lifeb) Affects the employee’s health because there is a sudden change in the eating and lifestyle pattern due to time zone difference and different culturec) Being on audit tours means there is a constant pressure from top management to achieve to complete the work within the stipulated time resulting in employees working long hours with no breaks that affects their healthd) In addition to (c), constant pressure to be subject matter experts on the topics that they are auditing and should have complete awareness of the local regulations to be able to provide value added service. This expectation among the auditees adds to the pressure to perform well in a location away from home office to build reputation. It might not be a disadvantage except for those who are not an expert in the field. For example, I was expected to know the functioning of the power station even though I am only a finance professional.This is all I could think of as of now. In any job you do, there is always positive and negative aspects. One must decide to which aspect should they give more importance to. I enjoy this role because I get to travel to different places and understand the working culture in all the countries and build my global experience within this field (though I am not going to deny the added fun of exploring those cities during the weekend).