What you will learn
Risk management is the central part of any organization’s strategic management. There is no such thing as a risk-free environment, but many risks can be avoided, reduced or eliminated through good risk management. In an area where the public sector is facing greater scrutiny and adopting new models of service delivery, effective risk management is even more important.
Risk management is a comprehensive process, supported by appropriate strategies and frameworks that are designed to identify, analyze, evaluate, treat and monitor those risks that could prevent a department or organization from achieving its objectives. It covers strategic as well operational, financial and compliance risks.
Public sector organizations need a systematic approach, and by successfully balancing risk and control, they can significantly enhance the value delivered to stakeholders. The workshop will lead participants through the steps in the risk management process and will help them understand the requirements for a proactive approach in identifying and assessing risk exposure, addressing both threats and opportunities.
The following topics will be covered during this workshop:
- Overview of the key risk principles, definitions, roles and responsibilities
- Practical examples of risk management
- Clarifying objectives and scoping the risk process
- Risk identification techniques
- The auditors duty to consider the entity’s risk management arrangements
- What the auditors would expect entities to establish by way of risk management arrangements
- Internal auditors' approach to evaluating the controls established by management to address key business and financial risks
- Examples of good risk management systems and risks registers that have been identified in the entities that we audit
How you will benefit
Lecturers from the Dutch Ministry of Finance and Slovenian public sector will present the principles, definitions, roles and responsibilities within the risk management process and will show how the risk identification should be approached in a methodological way to ensure that all significant activities within the organization have been identified and risks following from these activities defined.
This workshop will include a significant proportion of practical experience and concrete examples rather than theories, with allotted time for discussion. It will help the participants to strengthen and expand the risk management knowledge.
Who should attend
The workshop is designed for senior or experienced auditors (internal and external), accountants, and policy makers with an interest in risk management, supervisory, or control functions.
Your contributions
The workshop will be highly participatory. Participants are encouraged to be active in discussions and exercises throughout the three days event.
Faculty
Erik Raven, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands
Mr. Erik Raven is a proud father of 2 boys in the age of 8 and 10 years. Accordingly, next to his regular work you can find him on the football field, he is football trainer and he is playing football by himself. He likes also books and music and visited concerts of U2, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen.
Mr. Raven started his career at an accountant organization. From 2001 on, he worked as an auditor at the Central Audit Service under the Ministry of Finance. In the first period he mainly performed activities as a financial auditor in the Tax Department and in the Dutch State Treasury office. Nowadays he is performing more operational audits that are audits on demand of management.
He has a lot of broad experience as trainer in Risk Management. So he was involved during five years for a Twinning Project between the Netherlands and Macedonia. During this Twinning he gave training to the auditors in Macedonia, facilitated workshops in risk assessments and he was involved during pilot audits. He is also a trainer at the seminar of Risk Management at the Public Sector at the European Academy in Berlin.
Harold Aretz, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands
Mr. Harold Aretz is 47 years of age, married and a proud father of 2 girls and one boy, in the age of 9, 11 and 14 years. Accordingly, next to his regular work you can find him on tennis, horse-riding or soccer court, where he is a proud supporter, trainer or coach of his children. Mr. Aretz takes also part in a foundation for financial support of his son's school activities.
Mr. Aretz started his career in Government in the early 90's as an economist and has been working there since. He worked for several ministries in finance- related positions. From 1997 on, he worked as an auditor, first for the Ministry of Defense and, from 1999 on, the Ministry of Finance. In the first period he mainly performed activities as a financial auditor in the Tax Department and in the Dutch State Treasury office. {As they will put forward in the workshop, the position of an auditor in Dutch Government is quite different from other countries!} . In this period he also started his education as accountant /auditor. Mr. Aretz graduated in University in 2001, and - after the necessary period of practical experience - he became a certified financial auditor in 2005. In recent years his activities have shifted to a broader spectrum of financial and internal audit activities. This comprises (tax) compliance audits, management control audits and the coordination of audits on financial and non-financial information. In all these, risk identification is a major part.
To end with, in Harold’s (spare) leisure time he likes to sport (biking), read, and attend cultural activities in theatre, music and dance. You can also see his profile on Linked-in.
Tina Toman Pfajfar, Insurance Supervision Agency, Slovenia
Ms. Tina Toman Pfajfar is the Head of On Site Inspection Section at the Insurance Supervision Agency. In the past she was the Director of Internal Audit Service at the Slovenian KD Life Insurance Company and she also worked for the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia, where she also held a position of the Head of Internal Audit Service. Her main responsibilities included risk based internal auditing, providing assurance to the Minister (or Board) about the risk management and internal control system, preparing a Manual for the Internal Audit Service, PIFC, and others.
She is the president of the Internal Audit Committee at the Slovenian Institute of Auditors and vice president of the Slovenian Chapter of the IIA – Institute of the Internal Auditors.
She is Certified Internal Auditor at the Slovenian Institute of Auditors, State Internal Auditor at the Ministry of Finance, State Auditor at the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia and she has a Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA) at The Institute of Internal Auditors.
Application procedure
Application Closing Date: Sep 2,2013
