“This new Guide provides further guidance by
OCEG to support the continued improvement of an organization’s compliance and ethics program,”
says Scott Mitchell, President and CEO of OCEG.

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PUBLIC COMMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THE EXPOSURE DRAFT THROUGH UNTIL 7/31/2006.
Send all comments to iag@oceg.org

"OCEG has a straightforward, ambitious and timely mission: to help organizations align their governance, compliance and risk management activities to drive business performance and promote integrity."

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Business Finance - January, 2006

For more information on OCEG
download our brochure.

Internal Audit Guide:
Evaluating a Compliance and Ethics Program

OCEG Practice Aid, Exposure Draft
May, 2006
(click image to the left to download a PDF version.)

Download the press release

The Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG), a non-profit organization with a mission to help organizations align their governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management activities to drive business performance and promote integrity, announced the release of an internal audit guide (The Guide) exposure draft.

The Guide is designed primarily for the internal auditor, and it also will help directors, executives and other senior managers charged with governance responsibilities to better understand the issues and processes involved in an internal audit of a compliance and ethics program. An internal audit of a compliance and ethics program will assist in improving the governance practices of an organization.

The Guide describes:

1. The knowledge needed to plan and complete the audit.
2. Leading practice information regarding compliance and ethics.
3. Other useful resources that will support both efforts.

“Read the straight talk for internal auditors, board members and external auditors that can be only found in the Internal Audit Guide Practice Aid from OCEG. This Guide provides the best practices and answers to that unenviable question ‘But who is to guard the guards, themselves?’ Based on more than 1,000 years of collective experience, the Internal Audit Guide Advisory Group and the principal author provide much needed insight on internal audits of compliance and ethics programs.”
Jack Seward, Forensic and Litigation Technologist, Jack Seward & Associates, LLC.

“The OCEG Internal Audit Guide will be a major contribution to how we understand the ethical health of an organization,”
Paul Moxey, Head of Corporate Governance and Risk Management, The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

“Internal audit's assurance and monitoring roles are key to effective corporate governance. Having the OCEG Internal Audit Guide, which outlines a comprehensive approach to auditing a compliance and ethics program, will be of great value to boards, management and auditors alike.”
Paul J. Sobel, Vice President, Internal Audit, Mirant Corporation.

“The ‘OCEG Internal Audit Guide: Evaluating a Compliance & Ethics Program’ is an important contribution to an often overlooked area of legal practice. It is important that it was produced by compliance professionals in an ‘open source’ environment. The OCEG Guide recognizes that a one-size-fits-all standard will never be appropriate, but gives a platform for assessing ‘next steps’ for every corporation. It should be read by every director, compliance officer and general counsel.
Robert Barker, Chairman, Compliance Committee, Powell Goldstein LLP

"The OCEG internal audit guide for evaluating a compliance and ethics program gets to the real cause of the problems that result in fraud. Too much emphasis has been placed on policies, procedures and segregation of duties in the past. While those activities are important - a more critical component is the control environment. This guide helps auditors evaluate the culture of an organization and the tone at the top. This guide is a significant contribution to the auditing profession."
David R. Hancox, CIA, CGFM

"Keeping up with critical information is very difficult today. This comprehensive Audit Guide is extremely well done, and will save your team from significant research time before their next audit of governance or ethics. It is a ‘how to’ guide and a must read for anyone involved in governance and ethics."
Harrington, Vice President, Internal Audit, Raytheon Company