ECIIA presents annual report 2019-2020

Letter from the ECIIA President in ECIIA's annual report

This year has been special for everyone and all businesses! This pandemic crisis is changing the way internal auditors work and add value to the organisation. 

More than never, the Audit Committees are looking for an exhaustive vision of the risk management and the governance aspects. It includes much more than just the financial aspects: environment, social, governance, sustainability, ethics, diversity, technology,…. but also value creation.

It is time to coordinate the efforts with the other “assurance providers” (internal and external) and develop a holistic and exhaustive view for the Governance Bodies. The 3 C: Communication, Collaboration and Continuous improvement are important as organisations may not accept “silos” anymore.

In this context, the profession can play an important role in assisting the Governance Bodies in their new duties and helping them getting risks under controls. By their expertise, internal auditors give an independent and objective opinion about the way the organisation may react to new risks, new crisis and adapt. If they work with the other lines in a collaborative manner, they can cover all the processes and give assurance on any new subject arising. 

The European Regulators have understood these challenges and have kept the same priorities, despite the pandemic, for 2020: sustainability, digitalisation. Each Regulator has also worked on new plans to assist the businesses facing this unplanned crisis and getting prepare for new ones.

The upcoming months will be interesting as many consultations are running at European level that might impact the profession: new Directive on Non- Financial Reporting, revision of AML regulation, publication of ESG reporting in the financial sector, review of Solvency II, Directive for artificial intelligence.

Finally, I am pleased that ECIIA has been able to adapt its services to members by going virtual and I take the opportunity to thanks all the volunteers that have worked with us and the staff.

I wish to everyone a lot of success in adapting to the new normal and keeping safe!

Thierry Thouvenot, President ECIIA

Read ECIIA's annual report