Group Internal Audit addresses International Conference in Helsinki

ESB was represented at the 2006 European Conference of Internal Audit held from 6-8 September 2006 in Helsinki, Finland, by Peter Brady, an audit manager in Group Internal Audit. He was invited to speak on the subject of internal Audit's roles in enterprise risk management. He gave an insight into how ESB had initiated and developed a formalised approach to risk management in the early 1990s. Peter went on to describe how today it is being further developed to ensure that the decisions managers make take full account of all relevant risks rather than just focussing on risks in their own particular area - this is what is called today enterprise risk management.

The conference was jointly organized by ECIIA (European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing) and IIA-Finland (The Institute of Internal Auditors - Finland). More than 350 delegates from 39 countries attended the Conference. European colleagues joined to discuss the critical challenges the internal audit profession is facing today:

• Internal auditing is a challenging profession that offers its practitioners opportunities for rewarding career paths, both in the field and other key areas within the organization.
• Internal audit professionals must Group Internal Audit addresses International Conference in Helsinki challenge their clients to improve operations in regard to risk management, control, and governance processes.
• Those in charge of internal audit activities must challenge their approaches and processes to continuously add value and support management and the board in meeting organisational goals and objectives.