First and foremost is the need to critically assess the internal control environment and the means by which the board will gain assurance on the design and operating effectiveness of its internal financial controls to meet what is expected by the new regime.
The need to stand back and assess the effectiveness, efficiency and coverage of the internal control environment brings with it the need to also review technology controls underlying the systems that process and report financial data.
Notwithstanding the top down and bottom up control considerations, boards should also take a read of their culture and more specifically their risk culture and determine the need to reaffirm or recalibrate same so as to support and drive a more mature and embedded risk and control mind-set across the business going forward, again to be best placed to meet the expectations of the regime.
