Internal auditors meet at CERN

What does CERN have in common with INTERPOL? The answer: the challenge of managing a complex international organisation operating outside national regulations.

Participants of the internal audit conference had the opportunity to visit ATLAS.

On 17th &18th April CERN hosted a meeting for the Internal Audit Heads of some of the most famous international organisations in the world. Sixteen organisations were represented at the conference, including the European Commission, INTERPOL, the European Central Bank, the OECD, the European Space Agency (ESA), NATO and the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO).

The objective of this annual meeting is to share best practices and benchmark performance in the fields of auditing, organizational governance, risk management and internal controls. International organisations, due to their specific legal status and the absence of applicable national legislation, often face similar issues in these areas.

The main theme of the meeting was "How to detect and discourage fraud in international organisations?" Participants presented various fraud cases that had occurred and how some of these cases had impacted the reputation of their organisations.

Tristan Bauswein, CERN’s Head of Internal Audit, explains: "Reputation is often an organisation’s most precious asset and it can sometimes be quickly tarnished by a fraud even with limited financial consequences." He adds, "For instance it is not always clear what a staff member of an international organization can accept as a gift from a supplier or a third-party? Some organisations have established a code of conduct including clear financial limits on gifts that can be accepted, such as not higher than 50€."

Because of the nature of their work, internal auditors usually come to have a good understanding of their organisation’s main operations. It was therefore with interest that the participants also had the opportunity to visit ATLAS, kindly conducted by the collaboration’s Resource Coordinator, Markus Nordberg, Technical Coordinator, Marzio Nessi and CERN ATLAS Team Leader, Patrick Fassnacht.

Inspired by the visit, the Head of Internal Audit at ESA offered at the end of the two days to host the next meeting in 2009 at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

What is internal audit and how can it benefit you?

Internal audit is about helping an Organisation reach its objectives, by assessing and improving the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. Its added value lies in the independent and objective assurance and consultancy that it provides. Internal Auditors use a systematic methodological approach for their assessment and abide by the Institute of Internal Auditors’ code of ethics.

At CERN, the Internal Audit Service is composed of three professional auditors and reports to the Director-General. Additional information and contacts are provided on the service’s web pages at:

http://www.cern.ch/internal-audit/