Sustainability in internal audit & control

Today’s businesses face increased pressure from various stakeholders - such as regulators, customers, future employees and society - to become more sustainable. Companies who actively integrate sustainability and ESG in their strategy and daily way of working have a strong competitive advantage. When embarking on their sustainability journey, however, companies will need to reconsider the role of their risk management and internal audit function to effectively address the opportunities and challenges that come with it.

Organizations’ risk management, internal control and internal audit functions can add value by taking a deeper dive in identifying and mapping emerging risks specific to the organization’s context (e.g. risks related to climate, ethical supply chain, toxic chemicals, employee wellbeing, community impact) and the effectiveness of the existing internal controls. More holistically, these 2^nd and 3^rd line functions are also well positioned to assess and define an appropriate governance model enabling organizations to streamline their sustainability initiatives and increase their maturity to the desired state.

KPMG’s enterprise risk & assurance professionals have the right experience, proven tools and methodologies as well as an independent perspective to understand strategy, assess risks, analyze processes and controls to improve a company’s ability to achieve their sustainability goals.