Is Climate Change a Greater Risk in the Middle East than Geopolitical Risks?

 Is climate change a greater risk in the Middle East than geopolitical risks in the next three years? According to the 179 respondents to the IIA Foundation's "2025 Risk in Focus—Middle East" survey, it seems so!

Geopolitical risk in the Middle East is real and should definitely be among the top five risks on the list of emerging risks. Anyone who disagrees is out of touch with reality!"

CAEs in the region often avoid addressing what could appear to be politically sensitive issues, which is understandable given the context. However, CAEs, in our opinion, must give more serious attention to the impact of geopolitical risks on their region and organizations.

Takeaways from my 2023 ethics CPEs

 As you are aware, licensed CIA's are required to take at least two hours of training in the field of ethics. I have just completed mine and I would like to share with you some takeaways:

1. Becoming the everyday ethicist:

This session was presented by Amanda Erven. The one technique I liked about how to achieve this objective is by developing your own personal value statement and code of self-conduct! It is a great idea. I encourage internal auditors to adopt this important step towards becoming an everyday ethicist.

2. Exploring workplace honesty and ethical gray areas:

This session was presented by Christian Miller. I liked his discussion regarding the differences between an honest person and someone who exhibits honest behavior as shown below.

Finally, I came across a white paper by IIA Australia entitled "Why people do not accurately disclose their conflicts of interest". Here is a paragraph from it:

"There are three significant ways in which people withhold information about conflicts of interest:

1. People do not disclose conflicts of interest
2. People only partially disclose conflicts of interest
3. People give misleading disclosures that result in information being hidden

These are referred to in this White Paper as the sides of the ‘Conflict of Interest Bermuda Triangle’. Examining the reasons people do not make full disclosures of conflicts of interest will help us improve disclosure systems and internal controls over conflicts of interest."

Please share your takeaways from your ethics training with the group so we can raise awareness of the importance of ethics in our lives.

Internal Audit's Role in Returning to Workplaces

 Last year, Richard Chambers in a blog post entitled "Returning to Workplaces Will Be Risky: Roll Up Your Sleeves, Internal Audit", offered examples of the questions Internal Audit should ask and get answers to from management regarding their plans to a safe return to the workplaces. These questions included:

• Has management adequately identified and assessed return-to-workplace related risks?
• Do proposed return-to-workplace policies and controls address the key risks?
• Are policies/controls effectively implemented (including communications)?

• Is the overall program functioning as intended, or are improvements warranted?

Obviously, the return to the workplace was not significant last year or during the first half of 2021. However, this may change significantly during the second half of the current year due to progress made in vaccination and the reopening plans around the world. I believe Internal Audit should focus its attention on the following issues:

• Reinforce & strengthen relationships: working remotely for an extended period of time under a climate of uncertainty and disruption may have affected  Internal Audit's relationships with its stakeholders. The CAE's priority, in my view, should be to reestablish timely contacts including in-person meetings with stakeholders as much as the safety and pandemic protocols permit. The stakeholders want to talk to Internal Audit as well as hearing from CAEs on their views, insight, and plans. A smart CAE will find the time to connect with his /her stakeholders and make the most out of the connection.
• Work closely with HR & Legal Departments to ensure there are proper anti-discrimination and conflict resolution plans: it will not be surprising, in the short term at least, that there will be employees resisting and challenging the organization's safety protocols such as wearing masks and physical distancing. There will be also others who did not get vaccinated for whatever reason. This may lead to conflict between the employees themselves and with management.  Internal Audit needs to ensure that there are practical and fair plans to deal with such situations.
• Encourage management to communicate the return policies and procedures before the return to the workplace: employees should not be surprised by the organization's procedures and protocols when they show up to work. They need to be aware in advance of what is waiting for them in the office and plan accordingly.
• Monitor and assess changes in corporate culture: whether we realize it or not,the pandemic and working remotely have changed people. The change could be in the mindset, the mental welness, priorities, perspective of life, and career plans. These changes can potentially influence the corporate culture. Internal Audit needs to work closely with HR and others to monitor trends and changes in culture to enable management to take timely actions to address the change.

I would love to hear from CAEs who have already returned to the workplace. Please share your experience and what challenges have you faced. What advice would you give to those who are about to return to their offices?

These are my thoughts, please share yours!

Picture credit:www.telljp.com

Internal Audit and Mental Health!

During the current difficult and uncertain times, people may not always be able to maintain proper mental wellness. This should not come as a surprise during these unprecedented times. People are worried about their health, their families, their jobs, and their financial situation.  In this post, I will briefly discuss how internal auditors can maintain their own mental wellness and what role they can play to help their organizations deal with mental health and safety plans in the workplace.

What is mental health?

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as: 

"a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential can cope with the normal stresses of life can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community."

With the current level of disruption, uncertainty, social distancing, remote working, fear, and stress it is of most importance to ensure that there are proper plans to deal with mental health issues as businesses start to prepare for workplace re-entry.

Although mental health awareness has gained ground in the last few years, there is still a long way for promoting it across businesses and communities worldwide.

How to maintain your mental health?

For the same reason a person takes care of his/her physical health, he/she should also pay attention to his/her mental health. According to experts, mental wellness can be achieved and improved through different ways and techniques such as:

• Get enough sleep and eat healthily.
• Exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. 
• Develop a new hobby and/or skill.
• Stay in touch with people.
• Train your brain: play games, read, write.
• Minimize the time you spend following the media.
• Practice your choice of spirituality/ meditation/yoga.
• Laugh. They say laughter is the best medicine.
• Build a support network and be supportive of others.
• Think more about today and less about tomorrow. Forget the past!

How can Internal Audit help?

Internal Audit can play a vital role in helping the organization promote and improve mental wellness  and provide assurance on the effectiveness of the organization's policies and practices and provide insight that can help improve them, for example:

• By taking care of their own mental health wellness, Internal Auditors can lead by example and maintain the right mindset and wellness to serve and add value in any way they can.
• Assessing the mental health "culture" and the related" tone at the top". A candid discussion with management and the audit committee regarding their views on mental health and their plans to promote it within the organization is the starting point towards recognizing that mental health is a real issue that should be taken seriously. Not everyone is aware of how mental health in the workplace negatively affects performance, productivity, collaboration, the ability to take the right decision. The reputation of the organization as a whole may suffer as a result of untreated mental health issues. 
• Review the existing mental health policies and procedures and ensure that they cover issues such as identification of mental illness, confidentiality, privacy, equality, and access to available internal and external support and treatment.
• Internal Audit needs also to ensure that there are appropriate policies and procedures covering anti-retaliation, anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, violence, and the flexibility to take time off or work from home for those affected by mental illness.
• If no policies and procedures are in existence, Internal Audit can work with the Human Resources and Legal Departments to provide insight and guidance on how to develop them.

The above are only general suggestions on how Internal Audit can help. If you have practical experience with mental health at your workplace please share as much as you can.

What do I do?

Because I, usually, practice what I preach, I am sharing with you what I do to maintain my mental wellness:

• I read a lot!
• I play brain games!
• I have learned a new skill: cooking
• I walk every day in the parks and trails.
• I am rediscovering nature and wildlife.
• I have developed a new hoppy: photography. Below are samples of my work.

Today's hoppy could be tomorrow's profession!

Please share your thoughts and your methods of maintaining your mental wellness.

Educate your Internal Auditors While you Entertain Them!

Can Positive Illusions be the Survival Solution for the Unappreciated Internal Audit Activity?

Let’s imagine this hypothetical scenario:

“you are managing an internal audit activity and working really hard to make it a value-adding function to the organization. But yet, whatever you do go unnoticed and/or unappreciated by management and the Board”

What do you do in this situation?

Call it a quit and leave?
 Or
Hang on and keep trying to win the hearts and minds of management and hoping that one day your hard work will pay off?
 If you choose the second option, how would you be able to mentally and psychologically survive until you achieve your goal?
The answer, according to some psychologists, may be in adopting “positive illusions”!

What are Positive Illusions?

According to Wikipedia:
Positive illusions are a form of self-deception or self-enhancement that feel good, maintain self-esteem or stave off discomfort at least in the short term. There are three broad kinds:
- inflated assessment of one's own abilities,
- unrealistic optimism about the future,
- and an illusion of control.

If you were in the shoes of the internal audit leader in the above mentioned hypothetical situation, which option would you choose? Is there third or more options? Would you adopt positive illusions as a mechanism to survive or would you come with other techniques?

Please share your thoughts!

Do You Have Enough Stress?

Last night, I was watching a rerun episode of  "The Big Bang Theory" show. In this episode, Sheldon concluded that he needs some "productive anxiety" in his life to boost his performance in order to solve a scientific issue he was having difficulties with. He explained his needs to his friends as follows:
"According to a classic psychological experiment by Yerkes and Dodson, in order to maximize performance, one must create a state of productive anxiety. So I’d like to ask you all to do something for me. Keep me on my toes. Just throw me off my game. Essentially, go out of your way to make my life miserable"

While the objective of the show is to make us laugh, the Yerkes and Dodson Law is real. To explain it in few words, I am borrowing the below paragraph from The ExaminedExistence website:
"The Yerkes-Dodson law states that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (stress), but only up to a point. When the level of arousal (stress) becomes too high, performance decreases".

I guess internal auditors are lucky! They have access to endless sources of stress, at all levels, from all stakeholders! So, next time management or the audit committee gives you a hard time, convince yourself that this is a blessing in disguise. They are only trying to boost your performance!


The concept of productive anxiety resonates with me. I would like to think that my best performance is achieved when I am under pressure and stressed out! It simply stimulates my brain and forces me to leave my comfort zone!

Do you have enough stress? If not, create some "calculated" stress in your life!

These are my thoughts, please share yours!

Should Internal Audit Forge Relationships with Regulators & Other Outsiders?

While updating my electronic internal audit library, I realized there are some documents that I have not read yet! One of these was a June 2015 white paper by Thomson Reuters entitled” A new order: The key skillsets necessary to thrive as Head of Internal Audit today”. The document lists skillsets that most of us are familiar with these days such as:

·         A thorough understanding of the (new) basic requirements

·         Critical thinking and the ability to continue learning

·         Deep industry experience and corporate knowledge

·         Leadership and ability to “belong” in the C-suite

·         A firm grasp of the importance of teamwork and partnering

·         And finally: The ability to view the organization with external holism

The last skillset caught my attention as I rarely come across anything similar to it in other literatures! The whitepaper explains this as:

“As regulators move beyond the strict letter of the law to point a finger at companies on issues involving culture, conduct and IT security, the burden on compliance and internal audit to anticipate appropriate standards and tests has become a constantly moving target”

It adds:

“Consulting typically requires more creative thinking than assurance work, and this may involve the acquisition of new expertise, either by the internal auditor or through subcontracting.  It is important not only for compliance and legal, but for internal audit to forge relationships with regulators, subsidiaries, suppliers and major customers and to be able to anticipate changes affecting the business”

Do you agree with this? What type of relationships (objectives, scope and nature) with regulators, customers and suppliers are you willing to forge? How do you balance this with internal audit independence?

Do you agree with the statement that consulting requires more creative thinking?

Please share your thoughts and experience!

Does Country Culture Influence the Quality of Internal Audit?

Culture has big impact on almost every thing in our lives,from what we eat,how we dress to how we conduct business.Culture also determines how relationships in the society and within organizations are managed including those between  internal auditors and their customers!

I have had the pleasure of working in different countries with professionals from different backgrounds and cultures and have witnessed  first hand how culture plays a role (positive and negative) in the relationship between internal auditors and management.

 The influence of culture on relationships and business practices  may impact the quality of internal audit despite internal auditors' struggle to comply with IPPF and deliver the highest quality of audits!

Although many articles have covered this issue before,my goal in this post is to engage you in providing your thoughts and experience.Once I receive enough feedback ,I will put it together in a detailed post !

Please participate and share your thoughts and experience !

I can't read the name of the Author of the above quote because it is too small. If you know it, please share it with me!

Picture source:http://www.quotessays.com/culture.html

Internal Audit in 2020 : What the ordinary internal Auditors think?

In the last issue of the Ia magazine, there is an article discussing the future of Internal Audit. The author chose the year 2020 for the prediction of the future and asked the following three questions:

1. What will not change about Internal Audit in 2020?
2. What will?
3. Can you make a prediction based on a current trend, taken to its logical conclusion?

The above questions were directed at seven "thought leaders", who provided their views on the future of Internal Audit. Their answers did not include any surprises or wild predictions!


I am very much interested in the views of the ordinary Internal Auditors! So please share your predictions and thoughts!  

Do you have what it takes to be a mentor?

Being a mentor provides a great deal of job satisfaction and makes jobs more enjoyable and productive! However, not everyone has got what it takes to be a mentor.
To be a mentor, one should be:
- a good listener
- a leader
- patient
- willing to share knowledge
- experienced
- committed
- and above all, has the right mindset

Why Become a mentor?

An article published by the ExecutiveBrief lists the following argument :

"A great number of mentors claim that by being a mentor, one earns the respect and recognition of peers. Mentoring enhances authority, thus firming up one’s position within the organizational structure. The mentor likewise is given the opportunity or the chance to learn from the mentee."
While I agree with the above statement, I do not support the notion that mentoring should be used for enhancing the mentor's position. This should not be an objective by itself but can be a byproduct of the mentoring process.

I have come across a useful publication by Human Resources and  Skills Development Canada ( HRSDC), which provides good guidance about mentoring. I would like to share it with you. It can be accessed here.

Have you thought about mentoring?
If you already have, was it rewarding as promised?

These are my thoughts, please share yours!

picture credit:http://www.trudeaufoundation.ca

My Fellow Auditors :Test your listening skills

One of the most important skills in auditors in general and internal auditors, in particular, is the ability to ‎listen.‎
I like an article entitled: Now Pay Attention, Here's Why You Need Good Listening Skills by Dawn ‎Rosenberg McKay (http://careerplanning.about.com/cs/miscskills/a/listening_skill.htm). Below are ‎some parts of it:‎

Why You Need Good Listening Skills
‎ Good listening skills make workers more productive. The ability to listen carefully will allow you to:‎
‎ •better understand assignments and what is expected of you; ‎
‎•build rapport with co-workers, bosses, and clients; ‎
‎•show support; ‎
‎•work better in a team-based environment; ‎
‎•resolve problems with customers, co-workers, and bosses; ‎
‎•answer questions; and ‎
‎•find underlying meanings in what others say.‎

I also would like to add that listening is a sign of respect for the other person!‎

How to Listen Well
‎ The following tips will help you listen well. Doing these things will also demonstrate to the speaker ‎that you are paying attention. While you may, in fact, be able to listen while looking down at the floor, ‎doing so may imply that you are not.‎
‎•maintain eye contact; ‎
‎•don't interrupt the speaker; ‎
‎•sit still; ‎
‎•nod your head; ‎
‎•lean toward the speaker; ‎
‎•repeat instructions and ask appropriate questions when the speaker has finished.‎

‎ A good listener knows that being attentive to what the speaker doesn't say is as important as being ‎attentive to what he does say. Look for non-verbal cues such as facial expressions and posture to get ‎the full list of what the speaker is telling you.
‎
‎ Barriers to Listening
‎ Beware of the following things that may get in the way of listening:
‎•bias or prejudice; ‎
‎•language differences or accents; ‎
‎•noise; ‎
‎•worry, fear, or anger; and ‎
‎•lack of attention span.
‎
Do you think you are a good listener? Let’s put this to the test! Here are links to listening skills ‎tests:‎

http://www.taft.cc.ca.us/lrc/quizzes/listtest.htm
‎ http://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/take_test.php?idRegTest=3206‎
http://www.cornerstone-ct.com/test-your-listening-skills/
‎
Good luck!‎

Photo credit:www.yourthoughtpartner.com