Sanctions: It's a world of pain out there

Presented by John Chesshire 

Sanctions have gained mainstream media coverage linked to the war in Ukraine but have been used for decades as a foreign policy tool. Sanctions can be placed on states, organisations or individuals at any time and can be imposed quickly by different players, for different reasons.

As Risk In Focus 2023 states, “If a major area of focus in last year’s survey was environmental regulation, this year it is the sudden acceleration of sanction risks… while not a new threat, the scale and intensity of sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States has been unprecedented”.

Staying abreast of this volatile arena can be challenging and the consequences for deliberately - or inadvertently - breaking sanctions can be severe, resulting in a world of pain for the organisation, its employees, and its stakeholders.

Learn more about this evolving geopolitical and diplomatic tool, and its consequences, in our brand-new introductory course in which we will deliver a focused overview of the sanctions arena and the associated risks. This course will help you undertake value-adding internal audit engagements over this topical area, either solo, or through close liaison, coordination, or joint work with other assurance providers, to help examine, establish and embed an effective framework of control in this area.

Who should attend?

This course has been designed to be relevant to internal auditors, audit managers and chief audit executives, as well as second line colleagues from every business sector – private, public and voluntary – who are not already experts in sanctions risk. It is of most relevance to those about to embark upon an internal audit of this area or for those wishing to stay up to date with topical developments and emerging areas of internal audit interest.

Attendees from organisations that have material exposures to sanctions risk, or where these and other geopolitical issues are either discussed by the board and its committees or recorded in risk registers, will particularly benefit.

What will I learn?

Upon completion you will be able to:

• understand the role and importance of sanctions and the compliance risks they pose
• how best to engage with second line colleagues in the sanctions risk and control arena
• identify and assess risk and appropriate mitigation associated with sanctions from an internal audit perspective
• deliver professional insight and internal audit assurance over sanctions risk, compliance, and control
• access additional resources to help you audit these subjects in your organisation more effectively.

Course programme

• what are sanctions – a strategic overview
• types of sanctions and their purpose
• sanctions risk and its importance
• compliance and working with the second line
• sanctions lists, due diligence and screening
• the role of internal audit in sanctions assurance
• key areas for internal audit to focus on and deliver insight
• topical sanctions issues and developments facing organisations
• common challenges and issues faced when auditing sanctions risk and how to overcome these.

CPE competency areas covered

• Performance (Risk management)
• Performance (Engagement planning)
• Performance (Engagement fieldwork)

3 CPE points