Are you getting the most from the ethics mandatory hours?

 Like many of you at this time of year, I have been looking to take the mandatory two hours of ethics training to comply with the IIA cpe  requirements. During the last few years, I attended webinars that did not interest me or added real value to my knowledge. So, this year I looked harder, and I was happy to find some really good free webinars that I have enjoyed attending. In fact, I found so many good webinars and I ended attending more than the required two hours.

One of the webinars was entitled "Why good people do bad things at work" by Andy Felo. The webinar is about the relationship between the "tone at the tope" and the "tune in the middle" and its impact on culture and ethical behavior within the Organization.

Another webinar was entitled "The seven deadly ethical sins of an organization" by Amanda Erven. I have found the definition and discussion of the seven sins engaging and I particularly liked the real-life examples she provided for each sin.

Another interesting webinar discussed an import issue which is bullying and bias in the workplace. The webinar is by Francine Griesing and its title is " Not just for school children: conquering bullying and bias in the workplace". This is such an important issue that should be in the radar of internal auditors.

One last example is a webinar that discussed ethics in this era of technological advancement. It is entitled "The ethical elements of Artificial Intelligence" by Katrina Ingram. This webinar provides a brief history of AI, ethical issues surrounding data, and discusses the principles of an AI ethical framework.   

I encourage you to choose your ethical webinars carefully and make the most out of it.

Takeaways from my recent readings

In this post, I am sharing some interesting takeaways from my recent readings. I will keep it very brief to enable you to go through it despite of your busy schedule! Of course, you can always download the original documents if you wish to learn more.

 Key Components of Digital Trust:

ISACA in a new free guide (Understanding the Six Key Components of Digital Trust| ISACA) defines digital trust as:

"Digital trust is confidence in the integrity of relationships among providers and consumers in a digital ecosystem."

The guide has identified six key components of the trust as follows:

• Quality of products and services
• Availability of information 24/7/365
• Security and Privacy
• Ethics and Integrity
• Transparency and honesty 
• Stability and Resilience

 Recession Playbook for Chief Audit Executives:

A Gartner 2022-2023 playbook identified the following 9 actions across three main areas that is believed to help in managing resources, being agile in securing talent, and accelerate digital and technological initiatives:

You can download the playbook by following this link:

Recession Playbook for Chief Audit Executives (gartner.com)

Turning Audit Clients into Allies

In its 2022 audit management playbook, AUDITBOARD offered some tips for turning audit clients into allies:

You can download a copy by following this link:

The Audit Management Playbook [2022 Updated] | AuditBoard

Do you have the "right to disconnect" outside business hours?

 A few days ago, the Province of Ontario in Canada introduced a right to disconnect law under which companies with 25 or more employees are required to establish policies that give employees the right to disconnect from business-related communications(including emails, messages, and phone & video calls, a ) outside regular business hours.

While the benefits and importance of the right to disconnect and its impact on the work/life balance and mental health wellness are not disputable, its implementation and success in practice are yet to be seen. 

Areas of consideration for internal audit

• Do you fully understand the spirit of the right to disconnect concept and are able to assess its effectiveness and implementation?
• Do you think it will limit your access to staff and information and impact your audit plan?
• Do you think it will increase your productivity?
• Would you plan to include it in your HR/culture audits?

If you work in a country that has already adopted the right to disconnect regulation, please share your experience.

picture source:Why You Should Respect Your Employees' Right to Disconnect | FlexJobs