ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

Chief Audit Executives highlight top risks for internal auditors

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By Alan Simpson CA

8 November 2019

Key points:

  • A new report by the ECIIA highlights Chief Audit Executives’ opinions on risk.
  • The report lists the top five risks they believe their organisations face.
  • Cybersecurity and data security are identified as their top risks.

A report published by the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) highlights the top risks currently faced by organisations.

A new report highlights key business risks identified by Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) from across Europe. The 2020 edition of the report, which is now in its fourth year of preparation, was published in September 2019 and will be of interest for those working in internal audit.

The report “Risk in Focus 2020: Hot topics for internal auditors” is published by the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA). The ECIIA members include the internal audit institutes of UK and Ireland (the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors/CIIA), Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, France, and Italy. The report is described as “an annual barometer of what CAEs perceive as their organisations’ risk priorities and what is preoccupying their thinking as they prepare their forthcoming audit plans.” It makes use of interviews conducted with 46 CAEs from the above institutes and comprises 528 responses. It is valuable as a guide to what CAEs throughout the UK and Europe view as the main types of risks facing their organisations.

The top five risks

The report summarises what CAEs regard as the top five risks to their organisation.

The top risks are ranked as follows:

Ranking

Category of risk

% Response

1st

Data security and cybersecurity

78

2nd

Regulatory change and compliance

59

3rd

Digitisation, disruptive technology

58

4th

Outsourcing, supply chains and third-party risk

36

5th

Business continuity/resilience

31

6th

Financial risks

30

7th

Macroeconomic and political uncertainty

29

8th

Human resources

27

9th

Corporate governance and reporting

26

10th

Communications and reputation

22

11th

Corporate culture

22

12th

Anti-bribery and anti-corruption

21

13th

Financial controls

15

14th

Environment and climate change

14

15th

Health and safety

13

16th

Mergers and acquisitions

10

17th

Other

10

Cybersecurity and data security clearly stand out as being viewed as the single most important risks, with the categories of regulatory change and compliance, and digitisation and disruptive technologies also prominent.

The single largest risk mentioned by CAEs

Also included in the report is the measure of what CAEs feel is the single largest risk currently facing their organisations. These are ranked as follows:

Ranking

Category of risk

% Response

1st

Data security and cybersecurity

22

2nd

Digitisation, disruptive technology

18

3rd

Regulatory change and compliance

13

4th

Macroeconomic and political uncertainty

8

5th

Financial risks

6

6th

Business continuity and resilience

4

7th

Corporate governance and reporting

4

Interestingly, cybersecurity was ranked highly (third) in importance among the top ten priorities within their organisations by finance directors in a survey (Facing up to the Fears) which appeared in the September 2019 edition of The CA Magazine.

Questions for internal audit

The report also gives section-by-section useful information for internal auditors on the following topics:

  • Cybersecurity and data privacy: rising expectations of internal audit
  • The increasing regulatory burden
  • Digitisation and business model disruption
  • Looking beyond third parties
  • Business resilience, brand value and reputation
  • Financial risks: from low returns to rising debt
  • Geopolitical instability and the macroeconomy
  • Human capital: the organisation of the future
  • Governance, ethics and culture: the exemplary organisation
  • Climate change: risk vs opportunity.

Read the full report online


Internal audit and its role in corporate governance

Internal audit plays a key part in the corporate governance environment and this article considers its role.

Header

Daisy-Chaining, Wardriving and Logic Bombs - 10 computer hacker terms

By Alan Simpson CA

21 March 2018

2022-11-mitigo 2022-11-mitigo
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: