Mattel has agreed to a cease-and-desist order and will pay a $3.5 million civil penalty to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to misstatements the U.S. multinational toy company made in its third and fourth quarter 2017 financial statements. The SEC separately has initiated litigation against Read More
As internal auditors, we all have a “spidey sense” of what we should be auditing. Sure, we should, of course, conduct comprehensive risk assessments that drive our audit plan, and many of the usual suspects will end up on that plan: cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, financial reporting, third-party relationships, and you Read More
GUEST BLOG Over my long career, I have often heard, in one form or another, the phrase: “You just can’t audit that!” The first time I heard it came when I was an internal audit manager for a financial institution. The senior vice president for human resources said she was Read More
The Institute of Internal Auditors has announced its “2022 Emerging Leaders” — a group of young professionals who were nominated as innovators, collaborators, and professional accelerators in the internal audit profession. “The contributions and achievements of this year’s recipients are diverse and impressive. Many of these young professionals have transformed Read More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has fined four audit firms for failing to file Form APs and, thus, failing to disclose who led specific audits for the firm and whether any other firms were involved in those audits. Failure to file Form APs in a timely manner is Read More
Not long ago, I was playing a game of football (which I will reluctantly refer to here by its given name in the United States—“soccer”) with some colleagues in a tournament organized by my company. As we huddled, waiting for the match to begin, our coach remarked, “we won’t find Read More
Consumer and investor awareness about sustainability is higher than ever, but misleading claims by enterprises to address this can damage an organization’s reputation. We recently sat down with Ian Beale, VP, Advisory at Gartner, to discuss greenwashing: where organizations intentionally, or not, mislead investors, regulators, and the public about the Read More
While there are some exceptions, let’s face it: internal audit has typically lagged behind on embracing new technologies. Rarely are internal audit departments on the cutting edge of implementing such innovations as artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, data visualization, robotic process automation, and other emerging technologies. But don’t just take Read More
When we talk about effecting change, internal audit findings and reporting on them can bring needed improvements to the attention of senior management and the board. But if those ideas are never implemented, then what good are they? Audit findings that go unheeded can be demoralizing for internal auditors. When Read More
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), which provides standards, certification, education, research, and technical guidance to the internal audit profession, has approved the addition of four new affiliates to its global federation. The new affiliates include Bolivia, Honduras, Senegal, and Vietnam. The new affiliates “now have a legal framework to Read More
