The real relevance of internal controls and their development

Mutual exclusivity? I'm hearing a lot of comments about the relevance and the redundancy of internal controls and especially internal controls development and internal controls training. A number of new management philosophies such as this one - pretty much unknown outside of the French speaking world, but mirrorred in philosophies such as the one of … Continue reading The real relevance of internal controls and their development

So what do you do when you don’t do what you’re usually doing?

A strange question Okay, I admit, that may be a rather strange question. But think about it for a second ... do you have other projects than professional ones? Yes, I know you have your family and friends, but do you have objectives, very specific aims you want to achieve with or for them? And … Continue reading So what do you do when you don’t do what you’re usually doing?

Risk management maturity – moving beyond risk registers?

An interesting article on risk register obsolescence I recently read this article by Michael Werneburg which was subsequently updated here. The article deals with the evolution of risk management in organisations beyond the use of risk registers into a risk mature organisation. It restates and reiterates a number of points that have been made by … Continue reading Risk management maturity – moving beyond risk registers?

Slow writing: more beautiful words

Reading The Cramped Lately, there's been a movement towards more tactile writing experiences, especially those writing experiences involving pen and paper. Excellent sites like The Cramped show people who are perhaps not aware of the beauty and the advantages of writing with a (fountain) pen on paper just what it's all about. I can only … Continue reading Slow writing: more beautiful words

The (in)flexibility of corporate governance

Thinking about corporate governance When we think about corporate governance, most if us think about a large and quite often unwieldy set of organisational structures and processes which keep the organisation aligned and on course towards its explicit objectives. And that is what governance has been portrayed as ... An immovable aspect of an organisation, … Continue reading The (in)flexibility of corporate governance

Audit interviews: exploratory versus digging questions

Failing to bring home the goods I believe most of us have been in a situation such as the following: we send out a young staff member on an interview, most often one of their first, only to have them come back with less than the information we expected them to. Then we hit ourselves … Continue reading Audit interviews: exploratory versus digging questions