Accra, Nov. 27, GNA – Professor John Bright Kobla Aheto, a management consultant, has advised directors of companies to uphold internal auditing standards to enhance and protect organisational values.
He said one of the greatest challenges organisations faced was assuring efficient and effective risk management, adding that internal auditing provided that assurance to achieve organisational goals.
Prof Aheto, speaking at a virtual training for directors of listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange with focus on the SEC Corporate Governance Code 2020, said providing risk-based and objective assurance, advice and insight for enhanced processes and procedures was key.
The two-day virtual training, organised by the Institute of Directors-Ghana, (IoD-Gh), sought to, among other objectives, promote good corporate governance.
Prof Aheto noted that the purpose of internal auditing was to provide independent, objective assurance and consulting services designed to add value to value and improve operations of organisations.
He said internal auditing activities adhered to the mandatory elements of the International Professional Practice Framework (IPPF), including its standard core principles for the professional practice of internal auditing and code of conduct.
Prof. Aheto said because internal auditing could operate across the entire spectrum of industries, from finance services to chemical manufacturing to government, an audit charter – a formal document approved by the governing body and agreed by management – was necessary to allow for the scope of internal audit activities to be defined specifically to unique needs of the organisation.
The audit charter, he said, could provide – in detail if desired – what work internal audit would undertake and the support it would receive from senior management and governing body to achieve that work.
Speaking on why the internal auditing charter was important, he called on the directors to use it appropriately as it provided the organisation a blueprint for how internal audit should operate and help the governing body to clearly signal the value it placed on internal audit’s independence.
He reiterated the importance of internal auditing, and charged the participants to ensure that audit charters provided the internal audit units the needed authority to perform, including unfettered access to records, personnel, and physical properties.
Mr Rockson K. Dogbegah, President, Institute of Directors-Ghana (IoD-Gh), observed that due to the lack of a harmonised single guideline for good corporate governance, ethical leadership was lacking such that organisations could not achieve their full potential and operational objectives.
He, therefore, advised directors to give off their utmost best and uphold ethical standards to promote good governance.
GNA