Auditing Culture

The CIIA UK used the launch of yesterday’s Global Institute of Internal Auditors conference in London to publish a report on the audit of culture.

The following key aspects are worthy of mention:-

• The document places great emphasis on the ethical dimensions of culture;
• The need to recognise that there is no right or wrong way of dealing with culture from an internal audit perspective;
• A reminder that financial services internal auditors in the UK are required to examine risk and control culture;
• Some functions are incorporating culture into their BAU audits;
• Some function are conducting thematic reviews of culture focused on joining the dots and using root cause analysis;
• Internal auditors should ensure that the board and senior management have defined the behaviours they expect;
• Teams need to up skill their ability to conduct surveys and interviews to collect data on culture;
• Gut feel has a role to play in helping us form an opinion;
• The Barclays, Aberdeen Asset Management and Old Mutual approaches to the audit of culture are shared as possibilities.

An important document on an important subject.

Risk Audit will incorporate the content into our next Audit of Culture Workshop (date to be announced imminently). As well as looking at the IIA viewpoint, we will also examine the essential dimensions of the “Cultural Risk Management Framework” in the context of the “Competing Values” philosophy.