Audit - changing focus
internaIservices
It is two years since the Executive Board ordered an internal customer
survey on support activities throughout the Group. Every subsidiary and
business unit, including Rl, responded. Since then, staff groups have
been working behind the scenes to bring about the changes in
organization and structure you wanted. We talk to head of Audit
Rabobank Group (ARG) Hanno Riedlin and Peter Knuvers responsible
for auditing Rl about what has changed in their approach and the
benefits for our network worldwide.
6 What'sNewS Issue 3 Moy/June 2001
What's News WNS): You talk about change. But
isn't what you do primarily based on regulatory
requirement?
Peter Knuvers (PK): That's certainly one
aspect on what ARG does. But in fact, the
regulatory aspect is a very small part of
what we do.
Hanno Riedlin (HR): it's actually a good
point. I think a lot of people perceived us
as having that role and no other. The
whole change process we've been involved
in over the past 1 8 months is all about
changing that perception.
PK: Besides the day to day work done by
internal auditors, we can also play a very
meaningful role in supporting operations.
The change we're attempting to bring
about is that we become an integral part
of the supply chain which ultimately gen-
erates the product offering of, say, Rl
to its customers.
WNS: How?
PK: What we've done is restructured
our own approach to our customers. If
we focus on their business processes in
a customer-oriented way, rather than
exclusively from, say, a regulatory per-
spective, we can support the etfective-
ness and efficiency of those processes.
Just one example here is putting our
fingers on potential weak spots. This
can work to mitigate risk.
HR: Basically, we've tried to shift our
approach to customers, to become a
partner in the business process. Rather
than focusing on internal issues, we've
stepped back and reevaluated our own
processes from the outside in. That reeval-
uation has led us to restructure our own
activities as well.
WNS: In what way and how does this change affect
Rl?
PK: RI's needs can be quite complex.
We're working in different regulatory en
vironments with different requirements,
also on the customer side. So local expert
ise and knowledge is crucial to what we
do. There are ARG teams in regional hubs
- New York, L.ondon, Singapore, Australia
and Utrecht to cover Europe. In some of
fices, we have onsite local internal audi
tors. Sometimes that is a regulatory re
quirement, such as in India and Indonesia.
However, a single person working in a
comparatively isolated environment is not
seen as ideal. So we've adjusted support so
that it is geared to specific needs around
the world. We regularly send in specialists
to help.
HR: But there is more to our restructur-
ing. In the past, the audit department
worked with teams organized along spe-
Operational Akdit (OA)
Compliance Audit (CA)
Compliance with internal
external regulations
legal regulations)
Effectiveness and
of operational processes
(including the availability of means)
