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Knowledge Update                                                                                                                                                                                     Knowledge Update





          By: Vishal Thakkar                                                                                                 Cyber Risk Management Using
          Executive perspectives on Top Risks 2018
                                                                                                                             the Three Lines of Defense Model
         Not too long ago, top risks       they are probable to
         for C-suite executives were       allocate additional                                                               Cybersecurity risk should also   look at risks at an enterprise
         regulatory scrutiny and economic   time or resources to                                                             be managed like any other risk   level. This function monitors
         conditions as against today their   risk identification and                                                         across the three lines of defense   how management (first line)
         top issues include disruptive     management over the                                                               i.e. ownership, oversight and    is handling cyber risks by
         innovation, digitalization,       next 12 months.                                                                   assurance.                       determining the extent that
         organizational resistance to                                                                                        The Three Lines of Defense       risks are actively monitored and
         change, cyber threats and         While respondents                                                                 for Cyber Risk Management        appropriately managed.              Pulling fraud out of the
         corporate culture.                indicated slightly                                                                                                                                              shadows
                                           less concern about                                                                1. Management Control            3. Internal Audit
         Key findings of the survey of     the overall scale and
         board members and C-suite         severity or risks for                                                             The first line include the       The third line of defense is                49%
         executives                        2018 relative to the two          3.  Managing cyber threats                      information security department   internal audit and may include
         Based on the survey response,     prior years, there are noticeable   4.   Regulatory change and                    and other business units that    input from external auditors and/
                                           shifts in what constitutes the
                                                                                                                             own their cyber risks. This is
         the overall global business context   top 10 risks for 2018 relative   increased regulatory scrutiny                often called as management       or regulators as well. The third   of global organizations say they’ve experienced
         is less risky in 2018 relative to the   to last year. Overall Top 5 risks   5.   Culture may not encourage                                           line can challenge the assertions     economic crime in the past two years
         two prior years, with respondents   highlighted are as follows:                                                     control as this function is      of the previous lines regarding
         across the globe sensing a slight                                      timely escalation of risk issues             responsible for managing cyber   the adequacy of the controls in             52%
         reduction in the scale and severity   1.  Increased speed of disruptive                                             risks by executing various       place.
         of risks in 2018 related to 2017.  innovation                                                                       controls.
                                                                             https://www.protiviti.com/US-en/insights/
         Respondents indicated that        2.  Resistance to change          protiviti-top-risks-survey                      2. Risk Management               https://securityintelligence.com/take-a-  Of frauds were committed by insiders
                                                                                                                             The second line of defense       load-off-delegate-cyber-risk-management-
          Characteristics of Financial Restatements and Frauds                                                               consist of risk managers who     using-the-three-lines-of-defense-model/     68%


          Corporate reporting quality has been at the most   The number of companies with restatements that                  7 Factors for Internal Audit’s Role in
          important place of the profession since the major   had an identifiable impact on earnings increased in                                                                                of external perpetrators, responsible
          corporate accounting scandals such as Enron       the post-SOX era but fluctuated greatly. The number                                                                                  for 40% of fraud are frenemies of the
          and WorldCom at the beginning of the century.     of restatements and frauds has decreased, however,               Artificial Intelligence                                             organisation – agents, shared service
          Analysis of various characteristics of financial   the dollar amounts of losses continue to remain                                                                                     providers, vendors and customers
          statement restatements and frauds discovered from   significant.                                                   Whether we recognize or not,     needs to prepare for:
          2000 to 2014 which demonstrated how financial
          restatements and frauds have been affected by     Analysis of Study Results                                        Artificial intelligence (AI) has   1.  AI Governance                         24%
          shifts in the regulatory and economic environment.   1.   Increased and improved governance practices              arrived in our lives. Many of us
          The analysis set out how financial reporting quality   under SOX and the enforcement of SOX section                experience AI on a daily basis   2.  Data Quality
          (i.e., the deterrence and detection of restatements   404 may be associated with the increased
          or frauds) has been affected by trends in             discovery of financial misstatements resulting in            through our interactions with    3.  Human Factor                   frauds committed by senior management
          restatement and fraud from 2000 to 2014.              increased number of restatements and frauds                  virtual assistants such as Siri,   4.  Measuring Performance        increased from 16%
          Frequency of Financial Statement Restatements     2.   Whilst most major causes for frauds did not                 Alexa, Cortana, or Google, and   5.  Reemphasize Cybersecurity      Types of Fraud
          versus Frauds                                         vary with shifts in corporate reporting and                  organizations are increasingly                                             Asset Misappropriation
          The statistics appear to support the view that with   regulations, significant causes for restatements             incorporating the advances that   6.  Filling the Understanding Gap
          the passage of SOX in 2002 and the implementation     arose due to changing accounting guidance, the               AI brings into operations. The   7.  Ethical Issues with AI                  45%
          of SOX section 404 in late 2004, led to increased     unraveling of industry-wide improper accounting
          restatements.                                         practices, the macroeconomic climate, or                     question to ponder: ‘is internal
                                                                heightened regulatory scrutiny
          Categories of Financial Statement                                                                                  audit prepared to provide        https://iaonline.theiia.org/blogs/            Cybercrime
          Restatements versus Frauds                        3.   At least 50% of the financial misstatement                  assurance over the complex       Jim-Pelletier/2017/Pages/7-
                                                                cases are by relatively small companies (market
          For financial restatements, the most common           capitalization of less than $250 million),                   algorithms this technology relies   Factors-for-Internal-Audit’s-            31%
          reporting issue related to debt and equity accounts   suggesting that smaller companies are of higher              on to facilitate organizational   Role-in-Artificial-Intelligence.
          or quasi-debt/equity instruments with conversion      risk of financial misstatement                               success?’
          options (21% of restatements on average) as this                                                                                                    aspx?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_  Fraud committed by consumer
          category ranked first in 11 of the 15 years.      4.   The median percentage of spending on non-                   Internal audit can provide value   medium=email&utm_
          Characteristics of Companies with Financial           audit services has declined in the post-SOX                  to organizations by applying its   campaign=20170464_TheStandard_            29%
                                                                period, and the relative investment in non-audit
          Restatements and Frauds                               versus audit services has fallen to 15% over                 skills toward understanding the   Profession_120517%20%281%29&utm_co
          Companies with restatements were smaller than         time                                                         organization’s objectives with AI   ntent=&spMailingID=17879267&spUserI
          those with frauds in terms of total assets and                                                                     and ensuring that risks are being   D=MTEwNTM1NzA5NDgwS0&spJobID=11
                                                                                                                                                                                                   https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/
          market capitalization.                            https://www.cpajournal.com/2017/11/20/characteristics-financial-  addressed. Set out below are    23044105&spReportId=MTEyMzA0NDEw   advisory/forensics/economic-crime-survey.
          Magnitude of Financial Restatements and Frauds    restatements-frauds/                                             seven critical areas internal audit   NQS2                                        html

          06     INTERNAL AUDITOR - MIDDLE EAST                                                                                                                                MARCH 2018  MARCH 2018  INTERNAL AUDITOR - MIDDLE EAST     07
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