IIA, FCMB, others proffer ways to drive corporate growth

The Institute of Internal Auditors Nigeria (IIA), First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and other experts have highlighted the imperative of governance, risk and control measures in driving the growth of organisations.

At the 2014 IIA Nigeria conference recently in Lagos, Humphrey Okorie, president, IIA Nigeria, stated that strengthening governance and putting right control measures in place would result in significant improvement across organisations and in the nation.

“So many things not happening right is due to not having the right governance in place, not having the right control in place. So, we believe that by the time this area is strengthened, we are going to see a quantum jump in improvement across the country and across organisations,” Okorie told BusinessDay on the sidelines of the event.

Peter Obaseki, managing director of FCMB Group plc, said governance, risk and control were trivet factors that provide backstop for, and bring about corporate growth and invariably nation development as they foster transparency, accountability and politics of credibility.

“Greater attention to corporate and risk governance during the development process helps a country earn policy credibility abroad, while signalling a commitment to transparency at home,” he said, adding that “we need to look at how transparency and corporate governance interact with democracy and regulatory reform in the processes of corporate and national development.”

Chris Ogbechie, professor of strategy, Lagos Business School, in his presentation titled ‘Entrenching Good Corporate Governance and Accountability,’ said: “Good corporate governance is imperative for organisational survival. It is the only means by which firms can obtain enduring results,” adding that internal auditors had an important role to play in ensuring good corporate governance.

Organisations must move beyond basic compliance and emphasise system of internal controls that will drive attainment of strategic business objectives; prevent fraud; target and mitigate risk, and help design business process improvements to better integrate enterprise-wide process with systems, he said.

According to Ogbechie, the benefits from having strong internal audit in organisations and governments include reducing and preventing errors in a cost-effective manner; ensuring priority issues are identified and addressed; protecting employees and resources and providing appropriate checks and balances.

Asked what measures should be put in place to ensure right governance and control in corporate and national development, Okorie said: “The auditors are at the center of it all. First of all the auditor will need to understand his role with respect to governance and control and understand how to go about doing what is expected of him. The auditor is at the forefront of ensuring that things are ethically done, that necessary controls are put in the right places, that there are right and effective controls in their various places of work.”

The IIA president said institute is partnering with other similar organisations and institutes in the country that believe in having the right control and right governance in place. “We are reaching to everyone to come and join us as we push towards having things effectively and properly done in our environment.”

FEMI ASU