Businesses are constantly looking for new products, technologies, new markets and consumers. They enter new partnerships or outsource part of their operations to third parties. How can you be sure that new partners are providing trustworthy information and that outsourced operations are being properly monitored?
Businesses are constantly looking for new products, technologies, new markets and consumers. They enter new partnerships or outsource part of their operations to third parties. How can you be sure that new partners are providing trustworthy information and that outsourced operations are being properly monitored?Business leaders, stakeholders, investors and regulators need credible information that they can trust in order to make the right economic decisions and to execute oversight duties effectively. Reliable and trustworthy information needs to be objective, of good quality and fit for purpose. It is however, difficult to build trust in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (“VUCA”) environment. We can therefore see that businesses are more and more overwhelmed with data that are most of the time self-reported data and a third party to control this data is required.
There are new market entrants, technology and business models, changing client expectations and demands for further information which require increasing levels of expertise and experience.
The demand for Assurance and suitable solutions to mitigate business risks will continue to grow. One of the ways to help address the issues faced by businesses, stakeholders, investors and/or regulators might be external Assurance. A stream of new regulations calls for due diligence procedures that can be covered through Assurance reports under International Standards on Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3000 “Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information” or 3402 “Assurance Reports on Controls at a Service Organization” reports).
Assurance is a term commonly used to refer to any type of work that provides confidence to the recipient. Assurance is a very flexible tool that can be used to address many business situations and challenges, such as information needs. It’s not used as often as it ought to be. Assurance encompasses a variety of services ranging from information systems and security reviews to customer satisfaction surveys, sustainability or governance reports and even big data …
While financial statement audits can provide invaluable business insight, we believe business leaders need assurance that goes beyond the traditional external audit. They require Assurance which can be captured under three broad categories:
- data – extracted or calculated volumes, values or other items;
- processes and controls – a series of organised activities designed to meet defined objectives; and
- reporting – a whole or part of a written report which may contain a combination of data, design of processes and narrative, including any assertions the reporting organisation has made.
Where organizations or their stakeholders identify a specific need to build confidence in data, processes, or reporting/information, a KPMG professional can play a valuable role. KPMG will continue to innovate and respond to meet those demands.
