NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2008

This is the first edition of the IIA Canada Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to engage and inform Canadian Internal Auditors on issues and activities that affect the Internal Audit profession in Canada.  Starting in 2008, the newsletter will be distributed electronically on a quarterly basis.  The look and content will evolve over time to ensure that the information is relevant and timely to keep Canadian Internal Auditors informed on uniquely Canadian issues.

WHAT IS IIA CANADA AND WHAT IS THE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE IN PLACE?

IIA Canada is an entity created in 2006 to look after the interests of the Canadian members of the IIA and to promote the profession across the country to key stakeholders. IIA Canada reports to the North American Board of the IIA Global Headquarters. A Canadian council (the "Council") was formed in 2006 to support the above goals.

The council consists of:

• twelve regular members (six from the various regions of Canada and six additional members selected to provide balance to the Council (various industries/sectors, language and/or skill sets)
• six ex-officio members, including the IIA District Representatives, the Executive Director of IIA Canada, and the President of the IIA Global, Dave Richards.

Ex-officio members are not eligible for selection as officers of the Council.  Nominations for Council members are solicited from members and chapters in Canada by March 31 of every year. For 2007-2008, the Chair of the Council is Olivier Lecat, CIA, Senior Vice-President, Internal Audit at the National Bank of Canada. The senior Vice-Chair is Palma Barbieri, CIA, Vice-President Internal Audit Services, Canadian Tire Corporation. Please go to the IIA Canada Info Section of our main page for the names of all members of the Council. http://www.iiacanada.ca

The Council has created different committees (see the chair of the committee in brackets) to support its mission:

• Advocacy Committee (Frans Blom): responsible for actively and publicly articulating and reinforcing internal auditing role, position, and value so as to influence key stakeholders regarding the necessity of internal auditing in good governance and organizational success.
• Training & Education Committee (Brett Naiden): responsible for identifying and promoting educational opportunities for topics unique to Canada, create revenue opportunities, and increase access and usability of internal audit training materials to Canadians.
• Academic Relations Committee (Mary Persson): responsible for developing an academic relations strategy that is aligned with IIA Global initiatives as well as Canadian Chapter priorities.
• Communications Committee (Todd Horbasenko): responsible for ensuring that Council-approved messages are communicated to the right audience, at the right time, in the right format.
• Finance & Operations Committee (David Pine): responsibility for the oversight of effective and efficient council operations and providing the Council with financial analysis and input for decision-making.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE 1ST CANADIAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN CALGARY, ALBERTA, OCT. 5-8, 2008

For the 1st time, internal auditors in Canada will be able to get together in a national conference that promises to be a resounding success. IIA Canada is thankful to the Calgary Chapter which accepted to turn a regional conference into a national conference. Their organizing committee is working very hard to prepare this first truly Canadian event. Reserve your dates, and be on the lookout for more information. Dates for the 2009, 2nd Canadian National Conference will be announced in a future newsletter.

MANY CANADIANS PARTICIPATE IN THE IIA'S COMMON BODY OF KNOWLEDGE STUDY

Over 400 Canadians participated in this IIA Global groundbreaking study. Results released July 9th, 2007 in Amsterdam showed that the practice of internal auditing is becoming more standardized throughout the world and is predicted to expand its role in organizational governance and risk management. Canadian-specific results will be available in the near future. For more details on the global study, please click on the following link:
http://www.theiia.org/theiia/newsroom/news-releases/index.cfm?i=3809.

ADVOCACY

LINKS WITH THE CANADIAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS

Members of the Council have met a few times with the Ontario Securities Commission. More recently, in a letter dated May 28, 2007, IIA Canada formally commented on the draft National Instrument 52-109. OSC representatives from the Chief Accountant Office were met to discuss the letter. During this meeting, the need to develop a tool to help small issuers comply with 52-109 was raised by the OSC representatives and IIA Canada has taken on the challenge to develop such a tool. A task force is working on this project right now.  

LINKS WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Over the years, various members of the Council have advised the federal government in internal auditing matters. IIA Canada continues to do so via its Advocacy Committee and regular meetings with representatives of the Office of the Comptroller General, including with Charles-Antoine St-Jean, the recently departed Comptroller General. The latter strongly supported the internal audit function and we will continue to work with his successor, Rod Monette, Interim Comptroller General of Canada, to ensure smooth implementation of the various policies adopted by the federal government, including the IIA's Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing.

LINKS WITH THE INSTITUTE OF CORPORATE DIRECTORS

Members of boards and audit committees are key partners with internal auditors in ensuring good corporate governance, risk management, and internal control. IIA Canada has committed to developing strong links with the ICD through joint events between the ICD and the IIA local chapters. Some chapters had developed links with the ICD over the years (the Winnipeg, the Toronto, and the Montreal Chapters) but we aim to create such links country-wide. Many other chapters have set dates to hold joint events in the next few months and we are confident that this partnership with the ICD will continue to evolve very positively over the next few months. Thanks to all the chapters who have led discussions with their ICD counterparts and helped make this initiative a success.

ACADEMIC RELATIONS

Two Canadian universities have launched or will soon launch a graduate level internal audit micro-program:

• Université du Québec à Montréal launched its own short masters' program in September 2007.
• Université Laval will also launch a program in January 2008.

We are very encouraged to see universities working to provide a larger pool of professional internal auditors and we congratulate both the Québec and the Montréal Chapters for their help and support in getting universities engaged in the development of internal auditing programs.

IIA Canada has set as one of its objectives to develop an adequate pool of internal audit professionals to fill the growing market demand. Our Vice-Chair of Academic Relations, Mary Persson, Director of Internal Audit at the University of Alberta works hard with local chapters to identify target universities and colleges and develop links with them in order to help us achieve that goal. This takes time but we are confident that over the years, more universities will jump on the bandwagon of internal auditing as they see and understand the enormous potential for this profession.

THE IIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION SEEKING CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS FOR ITS FUNDING TASK FORCE

The IIA RF is looking for Canadian volunteers on its Fundraising Taskforce. The primary role of the people on this group is to reach out in a personal way to people they know to ask them to financially support the profession. If you are interested, please contact Kirsten Bullock, CFRE, Development Manager at the Foundation (Kirsten.bullock@theiia.org).

Editor: luc.lavoie@theiia.org

Word document:  Newsletter1.doc