Master Class Corporate Governance, Risk & Compliance

Information is a vital asset for today’s companies. Managing information is essential for managing a company, but it is only useful for its management when it is reliable for decision-making. The value of information and how to leverage it plays a central role in this master class.

From a governance perspective we address how companies are governed and how information can positively contribute to this. From an internal control perspective, we address how an organization can make sure that the information essential for decision-making is reliable. From an assurance perspective, we address the reliability of the information paradigm from an auditing perspective, more specifically, how external and internal auditing will contribute to this issue.

The Master Class Corporate Governance, Risk & Compliance –realized as a collaborative effort of Antwerp Management School and Maastricht University – provides a broad view on the adjoining areas of governance, risk & control and compliance & assurance. The program covers the latest insights both from a theoretical and a practical point of view.

Topics addressed include the basic governance structures, corporate responsibility, ethical leadership, the COSO/ERM model, internal control in the business processes, basics of the assurance process (including planning & scoping, audit testing, reporting and documenting impact), and auditing and controlling of IT such as ERP environments. At the end of this module, you will understand the basic concepts of governance, control & assurance and how IT impacts these areas.

In each area we are addressing both the basic theory as well as the practical implications of the theoretical frameworks. We therefore provide the participants with a solid theoretical understanding of the topics and provide them with the contemporary management practices as well.

Learning objectives

After attending this master class, participants will be able to understand, to apply and to integrate the basic concepts of governance, internal control and assurance. More specifically, the following learning objectives are addressed:

• Understanding the basic theoretical concepts of Audit & Assurance;
• Applying the necessary audit tools in an internal and/or external audit;
• Identifying and understanding the contemporary developments in the Audit & Assurance environment;
• Understanding the basic theoretical concepts of Corporate Governance;
• Building the essential ingredients of Corporate Governance into organizations;
• Applying the Corporate Governance Framework in practice;
• Understanding the basic theoretical concepts of internal control;
• Applying essential internal controls to the processes of an organization;
• Evaluating IT controls;
• Applying the COSO framework to different types of organizations

Curriculum

This master class addresses the basic concepts in internal control, corporate governance and auditing. Addressed in the curriculum are:

• The main building blocks and ingredients of an internal control system such as the COSO and ERM frameworks;
• The quality of information framework;
• The value cycle;
• Essential preventive and detective controls and IT controls;
• These elements will be used to build internal control systems relating to the core business processes such as sales, purchasing, inventory management and production;
• Based on the key elements of internal control, the master class will deal with important aspects of corporate governance, including social responsibility, accountability, transparency, fairness, oversight, risk, ethics and incentives;
• By diagnosing corporate governance problems in real-life cases, the course first addresses the overall significance and scope of these problems, as well as their possible causes and consequences;
• Subsequently, the course deals with possible ways to alleviate corporate governance problems, including incentive systems and monitoring by boards of directors, shareholders, creditors, auditors, analysts, investment banks and rating agencies;
• Finally, the master class will discuss the different types of auditing and assurance services (e.g. internal audit, external audit, IT audit, assurance on big data). The focus of the master class is on external auditing and introduces the audit process, as well as the elementary auditing techniques, including the basics of the use of data analytics. Risk assessment and fraud detection will receive particular attention in the discussion of the audit process.