Currently, Canada is included in the broad North American umbrella of services provided by The IIA through its Global Headquarters in Orlando, Florida.  Within the Global volunteer structure, overall governance for Canadian IIA members is provided by the North American Board, two District Representatives, and 11 Chapters.  Canadian members pay dues to the IIA Headquarters in Orlando which enables access to membership information on IIA maintained websites, training discounts, the Internal Auditor magazine, guidance, tools, benchmarking, certification, and availability of member amenity services. A portion of the dues collected from Canadian members is rebated back to local chapters to assist in providing local programs.   Local chapters provide monthly programs, training opportunities, networking, newsletters, websites, and other services to assist members in performance of their jobs.

Overall Objectives

At a meeting of the Canadian Leadership Committee in July 2005, it was concluded that a review should be undertaken to determine if opportunities exist to improve services to Canadian members specifically in the areas of: services and issues of a national nature, representation to various government/regulatory bodies, and visibility with various Canadian organizations whose purposes addressed issues impacting the practice of internal auditing in Canada.  Further, it was concluded that the overall volunteer leadership structure did not provide a sufficient forum for identification, strategizing, coordinating, and monitoring actions needed to address unique Canadian subjects.

Specific objectives set by the Canadian Leadership Committee in developing these recommendations are:

1. Establish a forum from which Canadian leadership can be routinely engaged in setting strategic national directives to address the unique needs of Canadian IIA members.
2. Develop a Canadian approach to advocacy that will further capitalize on the Global IIA Advocacy effort but provide specific focus on Canadian organizations.
3. Begin the process of establishing a unique IIA presence in Canada to represent the profession of internal auditing to Canadian governmental, professional organizations, and internal auditing constituents while providing the full time staff support to Canadian IIA initiatives.

CONCLUSIONS

The Canadian Leadership Committee concludes that the current IIA structure needs to be modified but not reengineered.  The current IIA volunteer structure in Canada is not broken.  The Canadian IIA members currently receive services that generally meet their needs.  What is missing is a national focus and a process to address broad national issues which individual chapters are ill-equipped to address using only a volunteer structure.

Therefore, the Canadian Leadership Committee makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation #1:
Formation of a Canadian Council

Vision:

• The Canadian Council of the IIA will be the national voice of the internal audit profession in Canada:
• Providing leadership in addressing emerging issues;
• Advocating the value of internal audit;
• Promoting best practice; and 
• Advancing the growth and development of the internal audit profession in Canada

Mission:

The mission of the Canadian Council is to provide dynamic leadership for the profession of internal auditing in Canada. Activities in support of this mission will include, but will not be limited to:

• Advocating and promoting the value that internal audit professionals add to their organizations; 
• Identifying emerging issues relating to Canada and working within existing IIA frameworks, committees and structures to coordinate and ensure an appropriate response is developed;
• Coordinating research and the dissemination of  knowledge concerning internal auditing and its appropriate role in control, risk management, and governance;
• Providing authoritative input to the North American Board and/or the IIA Global Board on Canadian issues and context and ensuring standards and other professional guidance is developed as required to address the needs of the Canadian internal audit profession;
• Promoting best practices in internal auditing to Canadian practitioners and other relevant audiences; and 
• Linking internal auditors from all Canadian sectors, industries and geographic areas to share information and experiences.

Responsibilities:

Responsibilities of Canadian Council (CC) are outlined in its mission and charter:

• Assist in defining strategies and priorities for Canadian internal audit issues.
• Work within existing IIA frameworks, Committees and structures to advance the internal audit profession in Canada.
• Focus on enhancing services to Canadian members.
• Intervene to address gaps in Canadian services and structures.
• Monitor/pre-approve IIA initiatives that primarily affect Canada.
• Represent Canadian interests for discrete Canadian activities.
• Identify potential leaders to fill positions on Canadian Council.
• Review periodically the terms of reference for the Canadian Council and revise as required
• Ensure adequate Canadian representation on International Committees.
• Communicate with Canadian chapters through the District Representatives and to keep apprised of issues.
• Provide input to the North American Board and the Global Board.
• Establish regular dialog with IIA President or designate.
• Serve as the “Voice of the Profession” in Canada.

Structure:

Canadian Council would be comprised of a maximum of 18 members. The Council will consist of ‘working’ or regular and ‘ex-officio’ positions.

Regular members would include:

• 6 geographic members – one each from BC, AB, MB/SK, ON, QC and Maritimes. Ensures Council will retain a national focus.
• 6 at-large members – selected to represent industries/sectors, language, skill sets. These members would be selected to balance the skills and representation obtained through the geographic area members.

Ex-Officio members would be:

• One North American Board member.  Under the current NAB by-laws, this member is also a member of the IIA Global Board and would represent the Canadian Council on both the North American and Global Boards. 
• One District Advisor
• Two District Representatives.
• Two IIA Staff Representative(s) as ad-hoc members. IIA President and one liaison.

Recommendation #2:
Canadian Advocacy Initiative

Advocacy is a major component of the Global IIA Strategic Plan and an overall framework has been established to identify, strategize, coordinate, and measure results.  The Canadian Leadership Committee recommends working within this framework to uniquely develop an advocacy effort in Canada.

The potential advocacy efforts of Canada could include over 30 different entities based on the initial assessment of key constituents influencing the practice of internal auditing in Canada.  To address the focus on advocacy in Canada, a proposed methodology includes:

1. Establishing a list of advocacy targets arranged in tiers which reflect the level of influence needed with the group.
2. A prioritization system where the Canadian Council would establish the top advocacy targets for focusing advocacy efforts.
3. Detailed advocacy plans for each advocacy target which identifies a champion to lead each advocacy effort, objectives for each intervention with targets, specific actions to be taken, and performance measures to monitor results.

To date the Canadian Leadership Committee has identified, researched to varying degrees, and “tiered” over 30 potential advocacy targets.  The first three advocacy priorities have been designated as follows:  the Canadian Federal Government, the Ontario Securities Commission, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.  Draft advocacy plans have been prepared and work is underway to establish a champion and team for each advocacy target initiative.

Recommendation #3:
Establishment of an IIA Office in Canada

The task force reviewing the IIA’s presence in Canada considered various options.  After studying these options and considering a needs analysis, the group recommended establishment of an IIA office in Canada, with staff employed by and reporting functionally to the IIA Global office in Orlando.  The office would initially employ one person (“Leader”) and could potentially grow in the future as required. 

The movement toward an IIA office in Canada via a phase-in approach would contain the following steps:

• Finalize a job description for the Leader of the IIA Canada office who would be an employee of the IIA Global Office in Orlando but stationed in Canada
• The IIA Office staff would report to the President of The IIA.  Salary, benefits, and administrative support would be provided through the IIA Orlando office.
• The CC would provide direction, oversight, and support to the IIA Canada office based on their assessment of the needs of Canada
• Advertise, interview, and select an individual who would live in most likely Ottawa or Toronto (but the ultimate decision of location would be made by the Canadian Council) and work out of their home initially during the start-up of the office
• Move forward with establishing a Canadian mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address for the IIA Canada office

The CC, once established, should continue to assess the feasibility of other potential structural options, including establishing a full IIA Canada affiliate structure

Approval Process for Recommendations

In order to gain approval to proceed with the implementation of these recommendations the Canadian Leadership Committee will:

1. Sponsor local Canadian Chapter Board and member updates to inform and obtain support for the recommendations.
2. Discuss and obtain approval from the North American Board including their Chapter Relations Committee (operational interfaces) and Finance Committee (budget impacts).
3. Discuss and obtain approval from the Executive Committee of the IIA’s Global Board of Directors.
4. Inform and seek support from the Global IIA Board of Directors.

Implementation Plan Proposal

Implementation of these recommendations will proceed simultaneously in order to expedite service improvements to address the unique timing of issues facing Canada.  The implementation plan includes the following steps:

• Finalizing the nominating process for the CC members
• Formation of the initial nominating committee and soliciting of candidates for the CC
• Selection and approval by the Canadian Leadership Committee of the initial CC members
• Conducting the first CC meeting by June 2006
• Identify Champions for each of the three top advocacy targets
• Form support teams for each of the three top advocacy targets under the leadership of the Champion for each target
• Finalization of the advocacy plans for each target organization and implementation of the plans for the 2006 goals
• Monitor other advocacy efforts in Canada and take advantage of opportunities to promote internal auditing via other initiatives outside of the top three targets through the continued work of the Advocacy Sub-task Team of the Canadian Leadership Committee until the CC is in place and able to take on this role
• Finalize the job description for the IIA Canada office and post the job
• Formation of a Selection Committee responsible for the oversight of the job search and candidate interviews plus ultimate recommendation on final candidate
• Establish a unique IIA Canada address, phone number, e-mail address, and office requirements

In addition, continued updates and meetings of the Canadian Leadership Committee will be held to provide oversight of the process and ensure timely implementation of approved recommendations.  Periodic updates to Canadian memberships will be provided to ensure communication of progress being made.

Attachments:

A.  Draft Terms of Reference (Charter) for the Canadian Council
B.  Canadian Advocacy Objectives
C.  Canadian Advocacy Targets (by Tier)
D.  Canadian Structure Team Report
E.  Canadian Leader Proposed Job Requirements
F.  Canadian Needs Analysis