ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

The ability to identify and manage significant risks effectively is a critical success factor for all organizations, big or small, irrespective of industry or sector they operate in. Ineffective implementation of risk management can easily result in company failure, and this has been demonstrated by the failure of companies that were once highly respected. Unfortunately, for most organizations, risk management is not given the attention it deserves and organizations would simply have the bare minimum structures in place just to be able to state in their annual reports that they practice good risk management.

According to the COSO risk management framework risk management is defined as “Enterprise risk management is a process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives”

Looking at this definition carefully, it is clear that risk management is a process that needs to be inextricably linked to objective setting across the enterprise, at every level and unit, and that means that risk management should be engrained into the culture of the organization. Now, the big question is “How is your organization doing? Would it pass the acid test?”

Whatever your risk management needs are, at Mabedlana Consulting we can help you improve your risk management processes by providing specific risk management services, which include, amongst others, the following:

• Establishment of the risk management function
• Review existing risk management processes for effectiveness
• Development of risk management strategy, policies and procedures, and support during implementation thereof
• Facilitation of risk identification and assessment workshops
• Benchmarking existing risk management function against best practice
• Establishment of risk governance structures i.e. board risk management committees
• Providing a risk management bodyshop to complement your structure
• Assistance with reporting to risk governance structures
• Integration of various risk management structures
• Training line management and staff on risk management
• Project risk management
• Insurance risk management

Our enterprise risk management services extend to business continuity, crisis management, and health and safety.

COMPLIANCE

Compliance is the management discipline of identifying the compliance risks arising from ongoing obligations and requirements from laws and regulations, contracts with third parties and well as stakeholder expectations, and then designing and implementing an effective assurance system and culture so that the obligations, exposures, risks and opportunities are properly met and managed.

Compliance should be a strategic, value adding process that improves organisational performance, not an inefficient and inhibitive system that inhibits the proper operation and purpose of an organisation. In the ideal world compliance is achieved by an organisation through its normal "business as usual systems", without the need to create new and complex structures that add a burden to the organization, however, in the real world that is not the case, and organizations need to do more than rely on normal business processes.

Achieving effective and efficient compliance requires:
• commitment and leadership from the Board and the CEO;
• analysis of requirements and identification of risks, requirements and exposures;
• development of systems and procedures; and
• the creation of an organisation wide compliance culture.

Cost effective compliance is achieved when the organisational culture integrates compliance into the fabric of how business is conducted.

In addition to fulfilling legal duty, a compliance program makes business sense in that it helps an organization fulfill its mission. Other important benefits include the ability to:
• concretely demonstrate to employees and the stakeholder community at large the organization’s commitment to honest and responsible corporate conduct
• identify and prevent criminal and unethical conduct
• create a centralized source for distributing information on acts, regulations and other program directives related to fraud and abuse and related issues
• develop a methodology that encourages employees to report potential problems
• develop procedures that allow the prompt, thorough investigation of alleged misconduct by corporate officers, managers, employees and independent contractors/ consultants
• initiate immediate and appropriate corrective action
• thorough early detection and reporting, minimize the loss, and reduce exposure to civil damages and penalties, criminal sanctions

Mabedlana Consulting can assist your organization to achieve your enterprise-wide compliance goals through our compliance services, which include, amongst others the following:

• Establishment of a compliance function
• Development of compliance policy and procedures
• Development of an enterprise-wide compliance program
• Benchmarking existing compliance function against best practice
• Review existing compliance management processes for effectiveness
• Assist with reporting to governance structures
• Training line management and staff on your compliance policy and processes
• Review compliance with specific acts and guidelines for the public sector e.g. PFMA, MFMA etc

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Corporate governance embodies processes and systems by which corporate enterprises are directed, controlled and held to account

Due to the ever increasingly complex business environment and the recent corporate collapse of companies such as Worldcom, Enron, etc, Corporate Governance has emerged as one of the important issues at the forefront of organisational concerns. This has led to a greater emphasis being placed on Board accountability, performance scrutiny, and compliance.

The role of the Board of Directors is to define, delegate and monitor expectations placed on the organisation and the Chief Executive Officer in relation to strategic planning; policy development; performance measurement and compliance. In addition, the Board's key function is to purposefully allocate organisational resources in the best interests of all stakeholders and in line with organisations goals.

Mabedlana Consulting corporate governance services include amongst others the following:

• Corporate governance reviews
• Code of ethics awareness campaigns
• Review or development of board and board committee charters
• Audit and risk committee advisory
• Audit committee performance assessments

INTERNAL AUDIT

The role of internal audit continues to evolve as the times change, and with so much uncertainty in the market place, companies require internal auditors that will become versatile and adapt their processes to the changing business environment.

Internal auditing is defined as “Internal Auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes

From the above definition, it is clear that internal auditors are called upon to add value to the business, and means auditors need to be at the forefront of the developments that have an impact on the business. It is for this reason that Mabedlana Consulting likes the question “where were the auditors?”, the reason for that is that the auditors, if they have the mandate from the Audit Committee, they have all the ammunition they need to stand against improper practices or acceptance of risks that are beyond the acceptable risk appetite.

If you are struggling to fulfill your internal audit mandate or simply want to take your internal audit function to the next level of performance, you do not have to look anymore because Mabedlana Consulting can be of great assistance to organization. Our internal audit services include amongst others, the following:

• Co-sourcing/ outsourcing
• Establishing the internal audit function
• Benchmarking internal audit function
• Conducting internal quality assurance reviews
• Performing risk assessments and development of audit plans
• Developing and delivering in-house training to enhance audit staff skills
• Enhancing internal audit structures

FRAUD PREVENTION

No organization is immune to fraudulent activities, however with the development, communication and proactive implementation of effective prevention strategies and plans, fraud incidents can be significantly minimized. Managing fraud risk is a business imperative and if sustained, effective fraud risk management will improve the control environment and enhance the organisation’s operational performance and reputation

The biggest challenge to fraud prevention is generally the lack of clear communication of fraud prevention policies and procedures. Mabedlana Consulting can help you address this challenge through the following proactive fraud risk management activities:

• Development and or review of existing fraud prevention strategies and plans
• Training and fraud awareness campaigns
• Fraud risk assessments
• Internal control reviews to identify potential frauds

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

This service offering is currently targeted at the public sector organizations, and the services we provide include the following:

• Asset management
• Clearing of previous audit findings
• Development or Review of financial management policies and procedures

BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Business Process Improvement, also known as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is a systematic approach to help an organisation optimize its underlying processes to achieve more efficient results. It involves rethinking and redesigning the way your organization is structured and the processes you use to deliver services or goods to consumers.

Your business effectiveness and efficiency is only as good as your business processes, and the highest performing companies have a systematic focus on continually improving their business processes, and in turn, their performance.

At Mabedlana Consulting we have the experience and business process management skills that will enable us to quickly understand your organisation’s business processes and identify impediments to effective business performance. Should it be necessary, we can quickly document and assess your existing processes to identify opportunities for improvement such as, gaps in information flow, poor use of information technology to automate tasks, poorly trained personnel, poorly defined procedures etc.

We will assist you to improve their business performance by improving your business systems, operational processes, and performance measurement techniques that provide the basis for continuous improvement. We will focus on leveraging your existing investments and providing recommendations that meet your longer-term growth and profitability or sustainability goals.

IN-HOUSE TRAINING

At Mabedlana Consulting we believe that whilst the formal academic training is very important for any organization, it is still important to empower employees through practical and relevant in-house training that will enable them to comply with regulations, policies and procedures and thereby minimize the risks associated with non-compliance. Our in-house training programmes include the following:

• Policies and Procedures – HR, Procurement and Finance
• Fraud Awareness Campaigns
• Corporate Governance
• Compliance for Line Management
• Risk-based Auditing
• Advanced Internal Audit Skills
• Integrating Assurance Functions
• Embedding Risk Management into Local Government culture
• Risk Management for Customer-facing Employees
• Human Resources Management - a Risk Management Viewpoint
• Finance for Non-finance Managers
• Asset Management
• Audit and Risk Committee Training

RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT

Gone are the days when most of the employees would join companies and remain until they receive golden watches, well at least this is certainly true of audit risk and compliance professionals, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. However, from the employer’s point of view this means going through the recruitment process sooner rather than later.

The recruitment process is a critical one in any organization, critical because it is process through which new employees are identified. It is therefore imperative that the new employees are suitably qualified and appropriately experienced for the positions they are to assume within the organization. For high calibre candidates for financial and risk assurance positions, we strongly recommend that companies utilize the services of recruiters who are specialists and have hands-on experience in the relevant field of work.

Mabedlana Consulting will not simply send you any CV that we come across, but we will use our many years of practical experience to find you suitably qualified and appropriately experienced candidates. You can therefore expect a carefully selected shortlist and a very small number of CVs. Since we understand the fields we specialize in, we are in a better position to advise you on the candidates with the potential to add value to your business. All you need to do is contact us for a discussion of your specific needs.

We specialize in the recruitment and headhunting for the following positions:
• Internal Auditors
• Forensic Auditors
• Risk Specialists and Managers
• Compliance Officers
• Health and Safety Officers
• Finance Staff
• Company Secretariat Staff
• Interim Management

Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. It can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, a crisis or change within an organization. In this situation, a permanent role may be unnecessary or impossible to find on short notice. Additionally, there may be nobody internally who is suitable for, or available to take up the position in question.

There are several factors that make interim management the popular resourcing option it has become, and these are:

• Speed. Interim management can be in place within days as opposed to weeks.
• Experience. Interim managers will be more qualified for the position they are taking on.
• Objectivity. Interim manager should provide a fresh perspective and be free to concentrate on what is best for the company.
• Accountability. As opposed to taking a purely advisory role, interim managers are responsible and accountable line managers who will implement and manage a business in their own right
• Effectiveness. Operating at higher level give interim managers the authority to effect significant change
• Commitment. Interim managers are typically committed to an interim career

BUSINESS ADVISORY

This service offering is more suitable for small businesses that would like to move to the next level. Running a small business can be a very daunting task, and despite the number of resources available the owner is mostly expected to deal with most disciplines hands-on i.e. business planning, finance, marketing, sales, compliance, risk management etc.

If that is you we are referring to, do not suffer silently, Mabedlana Consulting is company that is very passionate the development of the small businesses, and would like to partner with you to take your business to a higher level.

What is in store for you?
Our independent general review of your business can help you identify opportunities to improve and develop your business. After the review, you will receive a comprehensive “Review Report” detailing the observations and recommendations for improvement

The next step will be to help you identify the appropriate timescales and resources needed for the short, medium and long-term. We can work with you to develop and implement any agreed actions to help you make the right decisions for your business.

Should you require specific skills or knowledge in order to implement improvements Mabedlana Consulting has a range of trusted associates that can be called on to provide such support, and these include:
• Accountants
• Tax advisors
• Website Development and Hosting
• Brochures and logo design
• IT advice