For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19 please visit the South African Department Of Health’s website https://sacoronavirus.co.za/

Business Continuity Management – Are you prepared?

“It’s not a matter of if a disaster strikes, but how well you are prepared and ready to give assurance to your stakeholders that you are in control when it does.” Business disruptions are occurring at a pace never seen before. Organisations of all sizes are experiencing disruption from a variety of forces – disruptions […]

The effect of Governance, Risk and Compliance during volatile economic times

There is very little doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all sectors of world economies, with the gambling sector not being spared. Within the African continent, the dual effect of the pandemic and the preventative measures taken against it has resulted in operators engaging in cost containment initiatives while remaining operationally effective and efficient.

COVID-19 KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE C-SUITE

The proliferation of COVID-19 is ubiquitous.
Spreading effortlessly across the globe and
wreaking havoc by creating uncertainty in
geographies, their economies and markets, as
well as causing panic throughout civil society.
Assuch,SouthAfricahasnotbeenspared. On
23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa,
through the National Coronavirus Command
Council, acted swiftly and decisively, by
enforcing a nationwide lockdown barring certain
categories of individuals such as healthcare
professionals and essential services including
inter alia, the production and supply of food.
The lockdown will last 21 days, commencing
from midnight on 26 March 2020 in an attempt
to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Social media
trends have aptly hash-tagged and called for
everyone to play their part in
#FlatteningTheCurve.

Dealing with the Increase in Cybersecurity Threats

Since the start of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, security researchers have estimated that cybersecurity attacks have increased
by 300%1, with over 45 000 hack attempts occurring every day in South Africa2. The increase in number is driven primarily with the fast adoption of digital transformation
to enable remote working from home, the establishment and increase of hacking
forums where information about vulnerable organisations are exchanged, and due to the profile of the typical hacker evolving with the establishment and accessibility of automated penetration test tools allows any interested person to become a hacker.

Risk Management – The Road To Resilience

For any organisation to achieve a state of resilience, it has to follow a systematic risk management process. This process needs to be outcomes-based and it needs to be integrated. However, the ÿrst step in the journey of risk management, is to understand what a risk is.

Navigating Turbulent times And the Importance Of Good Governance

SOUND GOVERNANCE practices build trust, inspire confidence, and advocate an organisation as being a responsible corporate citizen. Research suggests that investors are willing to pay a premium for a well governed organisation. Moreover, good governance is inextricably linked to good performance, therefore making it a critical success factor. An organisation’s governance processes should extend beyond mere siloed “tick-boxing” and pivot focus to an outcomes-based approach.

THE INFLUENCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNAL AUDITING PROFESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA 2

This article is a continuation of a two part thought leadership series. The reader is referred to Part 1 for context, background, research methodology, sample of participants and key findings around the following three areas:
Transforming to an automated internal audit approach.
Understanding and appreciating the capabilities of AI.
The possibility of AI conducting internal audit engagements.