JOINT PRESS RELEASE FERMA ECIIA – Successful response to the European Commission’s proposal on country-by-country reporting requires a strong partnership between audit and risk management
Internal auditors and risk managers have a key role to play in ensuring that future financial transparency standards are well understood, embedded into the strategy of large corporations and become a source of competitive advantage, the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) and Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) stated after a breakfast meeting today at the European Parliament.
MEP Jeppe Kofod hosted the meeting on the proposal published on 12 April 2016 by the European Commission to extend country-by-country financial reporting to most multinational groups operating in the EU.
On behalf of FERMA, Jonathan Blackhurst, Head of Risk Management at Capita (UK) said:
“Country-by-country reporting will result in the publication of a large amount of highly technical information. While this is the responsibility of CFOs, risk managers have a strategic advisory role to play in ensuring that the figures are put into the context so they show where economic value is created along the whole company’s external and internal supply-chain.”
On behalf of ECIIA, Silvio de Girolamo, Chief Audit Executive at Autogrill (Italy), said:
“Internal audit can contribute to the quality of transparency by giving assurance on corporate culture, on the risks and on company processes that generate figures and information for country-by-country reporting. This is useful not only for compliance matters but also to promote confidence between corporations and all stakeholders.”
FERMA and ECIIA believe that a strong three-way partnership between the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Audit Executive and Chief Risk Officer is essential to support good governance, sustainable growth, sound investments and job creation:
“Increased corporate transparency is pushing large corporations to adapt their internal organisation to new models, with both risk management and internal audit professions at the forefront of this evolution,” according to Typhaine Beaupérin, FERMA CEO.
“Because these new requirements mean a new collective responsibility for ensuring compliance with the reporting obligations, the board and senior management will need to rely on professionals to adjust and possibly turn corporate transparency into a competitive advantage globally.”, stressed Pascale Vandenbussche, ECIIA Secretary General.