When The CAE says : This Is Not Part of My Mandate !

I read with interest what the Head of Internal Audit at Nigeria Police Pension Office has said when questioned by a court about missing funds  :

" It is not part of my official mandate to report missing funds to the Auditor General's Office "

While I do not know the details of the case ,and what the  Head of Internal Audit knew or did not know at the time, this case raises the following question :

Have you faced a similar situation ? What did you do ?

Please share your experience and thoughts .

Executive Perspective on Top Risks for 2014

The results of a risk Survey by Protiviti was the subject of a webinar that I have attended today. The survey covered executives  from different industries with different sizes .According to the survey ,here are the top 10 risks:

 1. Regulatory change and heightened regulatory scrutiny
 2. Economic conditions
 3.Sovereignty risk / political gridlock
 4. Succession challenges
 5. Organic growth
 6 .Cyber threats
 7. Resistance to change
 8. Privacy / security
 9. Financial markets /currencies
10.Health care reform

Is the above list in line with your perspective  as an internal auditor ? If not, how your list of the 10 top risks will look like .

Please share your  thoughts .

Internal Auditors:What is your marketing Strategy?

Today, I have attended a webinar presented by ISACA entitled:

People-Centric Communications: Marketing Internal Audit & Conflict Management 

 The presenter identified three pillars of internal audit marketing as follows:

1. Consistent Messaging: defining internal audit, focus on objectives and outreach with managers.
2. Continuous Education: Alleviate the fear, Newsletters, Don't use independence as an excuse

     I prefer to re-label this to continuous communication! In fact, the three pillars fall under communication!

     
3.Transparency: Try not to hide anything post the audit plan

The presenter linked marketing internal audit and conflict together by offering the following explanation :

"With the innate fear of the word audit, conflict naturally arises "
　

I do not intend to go through the webinar in detail, but rather I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to share your experience with marketing your internal audit services within your organization.

Do you have a structured marketing strategy?  

What worked and did not work?

More importantly, do you think you should have a marketing plan? I am personally, a strong advocate of marketing and promoting internal audits.I like to think that I was successful at this!

Please share your experience .