In 2022, several risk areas put organizations in a state of permanent crisis: the ongoing pandemic, supply chain issues, climate change along with natural disasters, persistent inflation and rising energy prices driven by the war in Ukraine. For this reason, 14 Institutes of Internal Auditors across 15 European countries have conducted a study on key risk areas to help IAFs prepare their independent risk assessment work, annual planning, and audit scoping – ultimately manifesting in the report “Risk in focus: 2023: more risky, uncertain, and volatile times ahead” by the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA).
According to the ECIIA, in the context of this geopolitical instability and permanent crisis, internal audit functions (IAFs) are now tasked to support their organizations in a complex, enterprise-wide risk assessment. Furthermore, IAFs shall be tasked with identifying „big picture“ risks and assessing how their organization can respond if, for example, there were to be prolonged inflation above 20% as in the 1970s, or if supply chains in key emerging economies such as China were to break permanently.
For further information, you can download the report here