What you will learn

The profession of internal auditing is based on the concept of adding value and it can an only serve its mission if it meets its commitment to the ethical conduct. Having a unique position when it comes to meeting the needs of different stakeholders (e.g. members of governing boards, divisional managers, political and public stakeholders etc.) public sector auditors have to find a way to provide objective assurance to its stakeholders while at the same time remaining independent from management and other stakeholders. This is often something that is easier said than done. In the context of changes that that became effective in 2017 and led to the update of International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF), this webinar aims to share insights about the importance of ethics and how it relates to an auditor’s role and responsibility. The question of what internal audit profession can do to protect and enhance ethical behavior will also be explored.

The webinar will be the opportunity to discuss the principles pertaining to integrity, objectivity, confidentiality and competency internal auditors are expected to apply while performing their work. New traits such as internal auditor being insightful, proactive, future focused as well as promoting organizational improvement and providing further direction to what makes internal auditors effective in serving their key stakeholders will also be explored. This online session will also look into how internal auditors should proceed in case of finding themselves in a situation of ethical dilemma and make decisions that are in line with internal auditor’s professional values and belief.

How you will benefit

This learning initiative will apply participatory learning design, combining subject matter presentations with answer and question session built in to ensure active engagement of the webinar attendees and to optimize learning outcomes.

By the end of the webinar participants will have:

• Received insights on why ethics in the profession of internal auditing matters and how it relates to the roles and responsibilities of an internal auditor
• Discussed the principles of integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, and competency that govern the profession and practice of internal auditing
• Explored the question of how the professional ethical dilemmas/conflicts can be resolved when internal auditors find themselves in ambiguous situations or face pressure to change or omit certain audit findings.

Who should attend

This learning initiative has been designed for internal auditing professionals of ministries, agencies and other public-sector organizations in the SEE countries who are interested to learn about the importance of ethics relating to their roles and responsibilities as internal auditors and about the key resources that can help them in meeting ethical expectations.

Faculty

This webinar will be delivered by Zorica Bozhinovska Lazarevska, Faculty of Economics, Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, and Marlies Ypma from the Ministry of finance, the Netherlands. 

Zorica Bozhinovska Lazarevska, Ph.D., is a full professor and a Head of accounting and auditing department at the Faculty of Economics, University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. She is a course coordinator for Auditing, Principles of Accounting, Internal Audit, Government Audit, as well as Fraud Examination. Her research interest lies in the fields of accounting and auditing.  She has published more than 80 papers related to accounting and auditing. She has participated in a range of projects relating to the development of accounting and auditing education in the Republic of North Macedonia. Her academic and research work have been presented at various international conferences and published in scientific journals. She has been Vice-dean for finance at the Faculty of Economics - Skopje from 2005 till 2010. As certified auditor, she was a president of the Audit Committee at Stopanska Banka AD Skopje between 2006 and 2012. From 2012 she has been appointed to a member of the Council for Advancement and Oversight of the Audit.

Marlies Ypma  (MA Public Administration and Organisation Sciences) is a senior audit manager at the Central Government Audit Service in The Netherlands  with 21 years of public service experience. She has held other roles before as academic researcher, policy maker and senior staff advisor for a Secretary-General of a ministry. She currently helps top managers within the central government to reflect on strategic risks, organisational development and leadership so that they can make decisions from wisdom and in connectivity. She does so in different roles as executive facilitator, trainer, coach and researcher.

As program manager Risk management, Marlies currently facilitates risk dialogues in the boardrooms of ministries and public service organisations, from Foreign Affairs to Agriculture, from Defense to Immigration Office. She advises and trains risk management advisors how to become a trusted advisor to their management and speed up implementation of risk management in a political-administrative environment. She is an executive coach for directors via the Office of the Senior Civil Service of the Central Government. As an expert  in organizational culture and behavior she carries out systemic intervention research to bring back harmony and improve cooperation in organisations. Her specialties are diagnosing the unwritten rules of the game and facilitating awareness within the ranks of management about the power of the uncurrent in organisations.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

This webinar is free to join. Please feel free to bring this webinar under the attention also to your colleagues who may find the discussion particularly timely and useful!

When: January 30, 2020, at 10:00 CET - the webinar session will open 20 minutes before the official start

Duration: 90 minutes

Where: From the convenience of your own computer at the CEF Online Learning Campus (http://www.cef-see.org/olc/)

Language: English

Partners

This learning initiative was supported by: