Governance and Risk Package

Overview:

Are you a board member or in a leadership position at your organization?  
 
Are you interested in:

• Enhancing your contribution to your organization as a leader?
• Learning more about governance and governance best practices?
• Being better prepared to handle crisis situations in an ethical manner?
• Learning how to improve your organization’s risk management approach?
• Implementing robust internal controls to protect your organization? 
   

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, this package of 4 courses is for you. Here is what you can learn from each of the courses in this package: 
 
Improving Governance in the Public Sector: 
Explore the evolution of governance specifically in the public sector, given the unique challenges that it faces. Learn governance principles and best practices at the board, management, and staff/operational levels.  
 
Ethical Decision-Making in a Crisis: 
Consider and address business ethics issues during an unexpected crisis, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic. Examine how organizations have dealt with their stakeholders and how they have lived up to their core values. 
 
Enterprise Risk Management: 
Examine methods and techniques commonly used that will help board members and senior managers in corporate, public sector, and not-for-profit organizations fulfill their risk management duties.  
 
Introduction to Internal Control: 
Learn why robust internal control systems are essential for any organization. Gain practical guidance on how to evaluate and improve internal control systems in your organization. Cover fraud prevention, including internal control red flags and warning signs, fraud themes, and the findings of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Report to the Nations. 
 

Course Content:

You will gain knowledge about the following topics: 
 
Improving Governance in the Public Sector (2 Hours)

• Definition and components of governance
• Differences between public and corporate sector governance
• 8 public sector dilemmas
• Evolution, global trends, and public sector governance principles
• Public sector governance case studies
• Governance as a Leadership model
• Governance best practices at the board, management, and staff/operational level 
   

Ethical Decision-Making in a Crisis (1 Hour)

• Definition of ethics
• Ethical principles
• Return on investment from ethical business practices
• Crisis response strategies
• Decision-making in a crisis checklist 
   

Enterprise Risk Management (1 Hour)

• Definition and objectives of enterprise risk management
• Benefits of having risk management strategies
• ISO risk management principles
• COSO risk management principles
• 6-step ERM process
• Risk appetite approach
• Case study of the Department of Finance and Bank of Canada
• National ERM trends and statistics

Introduction to Internal Control (1 Hour)

• Canadian auditing standards and audit assertions
• SOX and Canadian SEC requirements
• Findings of Public Companies Audit Oversight Board
• Canadian Practice Inspection Findings related to internal control 

Learning Objectives:

Upon completing all of these courses, you should be able to: 

• Define governance and its components
• Explain why good governance is critical for the success of every organization
• Describe the differences between the corporate and public sectors and how this impacts governance
• Identify success factors of good governance using case studies
• Identify governance best practices at the board, management, and staff/operational levels
• Define business ethics and its key principles
• Describe the returns on investment from ethical business practices
• Describe the ethically-driven crisis response strategies
• Explain what risk management is and why it is important for every organization
• Identify the objectives of a successful risk management strategy
• Describe the key principles of risk management strategies
• Examine the steps involved in establishing risk management strategies, including risk identification, measurement, mitigation, reporting, monitoring, and risk governance
• Illustrate the risk management process through a case study
• Describe what can happen in the absence of internal controls
• Identify warning signs for potential fraud related to specific business activities, including employee behaviour and lifestyle, management attitude, payroll, and more
• Examine why people commit fraud and key principles to detect and mitigate risk
• Identify Canadian auditing standards and assertions related to internal control evaluation 

Who Will Benefit: 

This course package is designed for CPAs and others who are in leadership roles and those aspiring to be who are looking for practical guidance, tools, and resources to enhance their contribution to their organization by improving governance, ethical decision making, and enterprise risk management, and internal controls. 

Testimonials: