Risk Advisory Services

The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is set to be the biggest shake-up to data privacy legislation in a generation. The regulation comes into force in May 2018 and will affect businesses across the globe. Steven Snaith, Partner, RSM UK and Nicola Colleran, Technology Consulting Director, RSM Ireland comment.

A blog by Michael Shatter, Director of Risk Assurance Services, RSM Australia. Throughout the evolution of cyber insurance one thing has become clear; defence barriers can never be fully impenetrable and therefore, you are never fully protected. This is what makes insurance the back bone of cyber protection. Organisations of all sizes need to invest in security procedures and tools to make the business as resilient as possible. 'Underinsured' means 'underprepared'. 

RSM, through an integrated and coordinated approach with its member firms, developed detailed audit programmes for meat manufacturer  in accordance with industry “leading practices” that are designed to assess internal control effectiveness in a harmonised fashion for the US domestic and international locations selected for internal audits.

An external audit firm noted that as a result of the failure they would be required to expand their scope of their work to perform a full SOD assessment for all areas addressed in the financial controls at all locations that are significant. The additional cost to RSM's client would have been estimated to be $400,000 if not resolved.

RSM was engaged by a transport and logistics company to develop Internal Audit function, to evaluate the existing Internal Control System (ICS) and the Risk Management System (RMS) in order to optimise and integrate existing systems for establishing a comprehensive Compliance Management System (CMS).

RSM was engaged by a Healthcare trust in order to support the Director of Finance & Information (DFI) in re-establishing financial control and subsequently rebuilding the finance function of the Trust. Our role was primarily focused on three key objectives: support the creation of a financial strategy, review and redesign of the Finance Team structure, and interaction with operations and interim support.

RSM was engaged by a Department for International Development to provide forensic audit and system security audit services support to the corresponding national audit office (NAO) following the discovery that over 500 lines of accounting entries had been deleted from the financial system. 

RSM was hired by the client to work alongside the internal audit manager of a bank, assisting with risk assessment, audit planning and a co-sourced execution of the annual internal audit plan under the oversight of the Bank’s audit committee.  

Data breaches and information security are critical concerns for organisations and individuals as attack methods become more diverse and widespread. While media reports typically only illustrate the dangers at large companies, small breaches are more frequent and cause the most damage. In fact, family offices are at an acute risk; with information from high-net-worth individuals extremely valuable to criminals, security measures may require a closer look.

A guest blog by Thilen Pillay, Manager – Risk Advisory Services, RSM Betty & Dickson (Johannesburg)