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Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight

Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2019.

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Other Authors: Whittaker, Louise
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2020
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Whittaker, Louise
author_browse Whittaker, Louise
author_facet Whittaker, Louise
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:11.720Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/74030 Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight Whittaker, Louise ichelp@gibs.co.za Mutevhe, Tabeth UCTD Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2019. There has been an increase in corporate failures over the past two decades, which have been attributed to governance failures. In particular, inadequate risk oversight by boards has been cited as the main cause of these failures. Combined assurance has emerged as a mechanism that can assist boards to exercise their risk oversight role. This entails different assurance providers working together to align their assurance activities, in order to provide boards with a holistic view of the risk and control and environment of the organisation. However, many organisations are finding it challenging to implement combined assurance due to a lack of guidance regarding why they need to do this, what they need to succeed, implementation approaches, and if there are benefits that can be achieved. The aim of this study is to understand the drivers, success factors, methods/ ways used to implement combined assurance and the benefits thereof. In particular, if the benefit of enabling boards to exercise their risk oversight is being achieved. Qualitative research methods were used to explore the concept of combined assurance. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted face to face with participants who had experience in implementing combined assurance. The participants were either Heads of assurance functions in the Internal Audit, External Audit and Risk departments; risk and assurance consultants; or independent directors who chaired either the Risk or Audit Committees. The participants represented six different industries, namely the Financial, Consulting, Printing, Mining, Property and Motor industries. The data collected during the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings from the study demonstrate that there are internal and external drivers causing organisations to adopt combined assurance, such as the existence of oversight committees and compliance with governance standards respectively. Buy-in from stakeholders, a common methodology, a mature Risk function and a strong coordinator are some of the key success factors noted as being required to implement combined assurance successfully. Furthermore, the combined assurance map, joint assurance, alignment of assurance activities and coordinated reporting emerged as the implementation approaches being used in organisations. Moreover, benefits such as preventing duplication of effort, focus and deepening understanding of risks and consistent messaging were some of the benefits found in this study. More importantly, the study demonstrated that combined assurance enables boards to exercise their risk oversight role effectively. ms2020 Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) MBA 2020-04-06T10:00:28Z 2020-04-06T10:00:28Z 2020/04/01 2019 Mini Dissertation Tayengwa, T 2019, Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight, MBA Mini Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/74030> http://hdl.handle.net/2263/74030 en © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
title Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
title_full Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
title_fullStr Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
title_full_unstemmed Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
title_short Implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
title_sort implementing combined assurance in organisations to enable boards to exercise risk oversight
topic UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/74030