The Internal Audit Office is an independent internal entity which was founded by the University of Antwerp's Board of Governors. The Internal Audit Office's mission is to provide support to the Audit Committee and Board of Governors in exercising their supervisory role, as defined in the Audit Charter. This is achieved by conducting audits; assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of risk management, monitoring and governance; and formulating recommendations and advice.
Mission
The Internal Audit Office's mission is to provide independent and objective assurance about the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal monitoring system for all of the activities and processes it is responsible for, as set out in the Audit Charter.
The office's main task is to assess the suitability, effectiveness, quality and efficiency of risk management, internal monitoring and the governance system. This includes conducting audits according to an audit schedule, though ad hoc assignments may also be accepted.
The Internal Audit Office helps the university realise its objectives by examining any risks which may prevent the university from doing so. Examples include financial risks, operational risks, legal risks, reputation risks, fraud risks and so on.
Publicly available documents
Audit Committee Charter (pdf)
Organisation
The Audit Committee works closely with the head of the Internal Audit Office and relies on this service for all policy work and for the implementation of audit assignments.
The Internal Audit Office occupies a somewhat special position in the organisation. In order to guarantee the office's independence, the head of the office reports to the audit committee in functional matters (job content, monitoring, reporting and so on) and to the Chair of the Board of Governors in administrative matters.
Activities
The Internal Audit Office works according to predefined standards and to an ethical code of conduct founded on generally accepted norms for professional internal audits.
The office follows its own procedures, which are listed in an audit manual approved by the Audit Committee.
In consultation with the executive management team and the Chair of the Board of Governors, the Internal Audit Office draws up an audit year plan on the basis of a risk analysis and a survey of the Board. The Audit Committee is then responsible for reviewing and approving this plan and any subsequent adaptations. The audit plan takes into account the audit service's staffing schedules in order to ensure that assignments and auditing activities are properly distributed. The risk analysis and audit plan are then submitted to the Board of Governors for approval.