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Companies of all sizes are increasingly recognizing the need for improved corporate governance. For many this includes a renewed interest in risk management and increased internal audit activities. For others, it also includes understanding the value obtained by partnering with a third party provider to maximize their efforts. Many of these companies have now come to understand that an effective internal audit function can further assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities, and help them achieve their business objectives. Not only can it provide assurance over compliance to company policies, but an effective internal audit function can offer counsel on the organization’s risks and controls, help to ensure the reliability of financial information, and foster the efficient use of resources to enhance productivity and profitability, among other activities.
GBQ Consulting provides a risk-based approach to internal auditing. Our Internal Audit & Risk Advisory Services practice is designed to provide a variety of internal audit and risk management services to both public and private companies. We partner with our client management teams to identify business risks that result from implementing business strategies, and bring a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluating and improving the effectiveness of risk management and internal control processes.
Whether you have an existing internal audit function or are considering one, partnering with a third party provider to achieve your internal audit goals may be the solution to maximizing your efforts. Our ‘Strategic Partnering & Staffing’ services are designed to meet your resource needs from full outsourcing to staff augmentation on a project by project basis.
Demands on today’s internal audit function are ever increasing. Balancing traditional internal audit needs, such as compliance monitoring, with additional needs such as strengthening the control environment and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is challenging. GBQ will partner with you to assist in the establishment of a risk-based internal audit function, assess the performance of your current internal audit function, or transform your current internal audit function from a poorly perceived, compliance only function to a risk-based, process-focused function.
Occasionally, resource needs exceed your ability to get the job done or complete that one special project. GBQ offers a variety of ‘Strategic Solutions’ designed to address your special project needs on a one-time or more frequent basis. Our services include: Process Mapping, Controls Testing, Operational Audits, Compliance Audits, Duplicate Payment Reviews, and Fraud Reviews. Any of our ‘Strategic Solutions’ may also be provided on an outsourced or co-sourced basis as part of a ‘Strategic Partnering & Staffing’ arrangement.
The best way to deal with fraud is to prevent it. Unfortunately, for many organizations preventive measures are only thoroughly explored after a fraud has occurred. Our ‘Fraud Risk Assessment’ services are designed to minimize your risk of fraud. We will assess your organization’s potential fraud schemes or scenarios to determine your key fraud risks. We then will help you to identify the key fraud controls existing (or not existing) in your organization to mitigate the identified fraud risks. We provide remediation plans and recommendations to fill in your control gaps or fix the deficiencies that we find. However, in the event a fraud has occurred in your organization, we can assist with the investigation. We partner with professionals from our ‘Litigation Support & Forensic Accounting’ group to provide both investigation and litigation services as your needs require.
Over a decade ago, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) issued Internal Control – Integrated Framework to help businesses and other entities assess and enhance their internal control systems. Today, the need for strong systems of internal control continues to grow and the importance of corporate governance has never been higher. Recently, COSO issued Enterprise Risk Management – Integrated Framework, which expands on internal control and provides a more robust and extensive focus on the broader subject of enterprise risk management. High-profile business scandals and failures in recent years which have led to new laws and regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, confirm this broader view is critical. Our ‘Enterprise Risk Management’ services are designed to assist clients in the performance of enterprise-wide risk assessments and the implementation of related risk management programs.
The effective use of technology systems is a requirement for performance driven and market competitive companies. However, the ease of access to critical business information that these systems afford is often accompanied by multiple layers of technology complexity – all of which need to be addressed in a company’s internal audit process. Consequently, Internal Audit is being asked to address critical information technology systems along with the more traditional compliance, operational and financial audit requirements. The Information Technology Risk Advisory Services function at GBQ can assess your technology risks, help remediate the problems, and develop a program to meet your information technology audit needs.
GBQ provides flexible services designed to help public companies achieve compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our ‘Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance’ services range from full project management and execution to providing project assistance as needed. To address your technology controls, GBQ leverages its information systems auditing capabilities and enterprise systems knowledge of its Information Technology Risk Advisory Services function. Whether you are seeking readiness services or ongoing compliance services, our professionals are prepared to execute, direct or assist you in the performance of your compliance efforts.
Internal Audit departments must meet the objectives of the Institute of Internal Auditor’s Quality Assessment standards. In addition to evaluating the department’s compliance with the standards, GBQ’s approach helps answer the company managements’ overall question: “Is my Internal Audit department adding value to the company?” We provide management with an assessment of their investment in Internal Audit, including whether that investment is at an appropriate level, is properly directed, and is producing the most value. For Internal Audit Directors, we provide recommendations on how to bolster and invigorate their department, assurance as to whether he/she has developed an appropriate plan and has the correct skill set to address the company’s business risks, and can appropriately monitor the company’s control environment.
For more information about how GBQ can help, contact Rick Kondoff at (614) 883-3852 or rkondoff@gbq.com.
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