Tools
The following tools were published on KnowledgeLeader this week:
Enterprise Risk Management Guide: Identifying and Understanding Risks
Organizations can use the key roles and responsibilities in this guide to manage changes in their processes and controls. Key roles and responsibilities include: identify areas for scope changes, create a change management action plan and assign it to the corresponding PO, address the action plan in the self-assessment tool, document relevant controls in the self-assessment tool and create process maps.
Educating the Audit Committee About Fraud Guide
Use this guide to educate your organization’s audit committees on fraud intricacies, detection and prevention methods, compliance with standards, and the role of internal controls. According to this guide, both personal and corporate pressures increase the likelihood of fraud. Some examples include manipulating stock price/value and concealing illegal acts.
External Financial Reporting Audit Work Program
Evaluate the operating effectiveness of the internal controls associated with your organization’s external financial reporting process with this audit program sample. Sample steps include obtaining and reviewing the risk and control documentation created during the Sarbanes–Oxley Section 404 project to gain an understanding of the processes and obtaining and reviewing prior internal audit reports, external auditor management letters and any design issues identified during the Sarbanes–Oxley Section 404 project.
Related-Party Transactions Policy
Explore our Related-Party Transactions Policy to ensure fairness and transparency in business dealings. The intended use of this policy is for domestic offices and subsidiaries of a company. The policy excludes intercompany transactions between members of a company and its subsidiaries. In this sample, all transactions with related parties require the prior approval of the chief financial officer.
Payroll and Leave Management Audit Work Program
Explore our comprehensive audit work program for assessing internal controls in payroll and leave management processes. Specifically, this work program can be used to assess whether the organization has established an adequate control environment and properly addressed associated risks. Project work steps include determining how risk assessments are conducted, examining relevant documentation and verifying that payroll-related risks are listed and assessed, and creating process maps for the payroll and leave processes.
Referral Bonus Policy
The following sample outlines a set of policies and procedures for referral bonuses to encourage employees to become involved in the recruitment process and refer candidates to the company for employment. This sample policy states that a referral recruitment bonus amount should be paid to any employee who refers a candidate to the company for employment and the candidate is subsequently hired by the company.
Inventory Management Questionnaire
The Inventory Management Questionnaire allows auditors to gain valuable insights into an organization's inventory management processes. The attached sample questionnaire is structured around key areas such as forecasting, inventory accuracy, supplier base optimization and tactical management. By utilizing this tool, auditors can better understand how an organization strategizes its inventory management to meet market demands while maintaining high customer satisfaction.
Publications
KnowledgeLeader has also published several publications this week.
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Public Sector Financial Risk Management: Innovations, Challenges and Future Directions
Economic, financial and banking crises represent scenarios of extreme risk where managers are compelled to find adequate and effective solutions. In such circumstances, managers utilize all available techniques to predict and anticipate risks within a complex, dynamic and uncertain environment. In this article, we explore the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing financial risk management practices within the public sector.
Consolidation of the Healthcare Industry
Healthcare mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity remained strong in Q2 2024, with a 10% increase in total transactions, though total deal value fell 4% from Q2 2023. The biopharma subsector led the way with 58%of deal volume. MedTech saw a significant increase in transaction value, driven largely by Johnson & Johnson’s $12 billion acquisition of Shockwave Medical. In this article, we summarize the current trends and expectations of healthcare M&A activity in the second quarter of 2024.
Maximizing CX: The Game You Must Win
Most marketing professionals agree that the primary purpose of a customer experience (CX) strategy is to improve customer retention and satisfaction. This strategy is fairly intuitive to directors. Of course, the cost to obtain a new customer is higher than the cost to sell to an existing customer. This issue of Board Perspectives explains why CX is important for performance management, customer retention and satisfaction, and competitive advantage.
Recommended Resources
This list of recommended resources from the web may be of interest to you. Click each link to learn more.
- Five Ways to Support LGBTQ+ Employees
- Most CEOs Still Focused on Decarbonization but Taking Long-Term View
- How CFOs Can Use Data and Analytics to Drive Strategy