November 2020
As internal auditors put the finishing touches on their risk assessments before preparing their 2021 audit plans, there is one risk that should not be overlooked: talent disruption. While there has been some degree of challenges in organizations’ talent pools for years, I believe a perfect storm is coming that will create more pervasive talent disruption risks in 2021 than any time in memory.
There has been plenty of speculation about how businesses will operate in a post-COVID-19 world, including short- and long-term changes to managing talent. While no amount of speculation or crystal-ball gazing can provide definitive answers to how these issues will manifest, one thing is certain: Talented executives and staff are becoming restless and are gazing beyond the confines of their employers for new opportunities.…
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that General Electric (GE), in an effort to streamline operations, is eliminating its Corporate Audit Staff (CAS) program, a “rigorous multiyear rotation through various divisions that the conglomerate has long used to groom future leaders.” To those of us who have long admired the GE model for internal audit staffing, it was big news. GE’s internal audit function is one of the oldest corporate audit departments in the world, dating back to 1913 — almost 30 years before The IIA was founded.
I first studied the GE model back in the 1990s, when I was leading a re-engineering initiative of the U.S.…
The desperation for normalcy grows daily after more than eight long months battling the insidious COVID-19 virus. This anxious desire for a return to a comfortable routine is reflected in growing public pressure for accelerated vaccine trials and resistance to calls for new lock downs, even as a new wave of the disease threatens many regions of the world.
I have seen this growing impatience, as well, in my recent interactions with internal audit leaders who are ready to refocus their energies on risks beyond crisis management. They are eager to apply lessons learned from the pandemic and move on from the initial response to it.…
All crises eventually provoke some level of introspection, whether personal, organizational, or societal. Certainly, COVID-19 has borne this out. Much has been written about the pandemic’s impact on interpersonal relationships, culture, politics, economies, and technology, as we seek answers to the greatest global challenge of the century. I have shared plenty of perspectives in this blog alone.
This week, The IIA releases an insightful report that provides further perspective on the pandemic and its impacts on organizations. OnRisk 2021: A Guide to Understanding, Aligning, and Optimizing Risk is not intended to be a report on COVID-19’s effects on risk management and governance.…