IT - Accounting Special Event
IT Audit in Banking Industry

Managing Risks and Improving Performance
by Mr. Daryl Pereira

Synopsis

As IT has become the enabler of today's complex business operations and strategies, IT risks catch more attentions from the senior management. Issues, such as IT strategy alignment, functionality, security, business continuity and regulatory compliance, need to be addressed in order to keep the business on track. IT General Controls (ITGC) and Application Controls, therefore, have become important parts of the popular business risk audit approach and are included in the annual financial audit.

In addition to the assessments by external auditors, business often also maintains a group of internal IT auditors to further manage IT risks. In Deutsch Bank AG, IT auditors need to make sure thousands of IT systems worldwide comply with corporate as well as local legal regulations, and are in line with respective business requirements as well as overall corporate strategies. IT auditors also help to improve the performance of the bank through IT. IT audit plays such an important role and is given so much power that it, together with operational audit, reports directly to the Audit Committee of the Board instead of to the CFO, COO or CEO.

So what is the difference between external IT audit offered by professional services firms such as Big-4s and internal IT audit in banking industry? Does IT audit really add value? Is a pursuit in both IT and accounting viable? What are the critical skills needed to pursue a successful career in IT audit? Must IT auditors be IT gurus? Can IT auditors step into the senior management role?

About the Speaker

Mr. Daryl PEREIRA is a Vice President and Senior Audit Manager with Deutsche Bank AG. He has more than 10 years of Operational and Information Technology audit experience having worked for various companies in Australia, and relocated to Singapore in 2004 to take up his present role with Deutsche Bank. In this role he is responsible for leading IT audits covering Deutsche Bank's Global Capital Markets, Global Banking /Transaction Banking, and Private Wealth Management divisions. This includes audits of business systems, IT infrastructure, and projects with the specific purpose of helping clients manage risk and improve performance. Daryl supervises a team of IT audit professionals based in Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Sydney and has responsibility for audits spanning 18 countries in the Australian and Asian regions.

Daryl has significant experience in planning, executing and leading both Operational and IT reviews. He has held various Audit and Consultancy positions and most recently headed the IT Audit team in Westpac Bank Australia. Prior to that he was employed by Ernst & Young Australia where he worked as an IT Consultant with a variety of clients ranging from small-medium enterprise to large organisations in the financial, energy and government sectors. In the earlier part of his career Daryl worked as a Financial Auditor with Price Waterhouse.

Daryl has a Masters of Information Technology and a Bachelor of Commerce (double majors in Accounting and Information Systems) from the University of Canberra, Australia. He is a qualified CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) and CPA Australia (Certified Practising Accountant).

Daryl has been a part-time tutor for the Information Systems Management course for the Master of IT and MBA programmes at the University of Canberra, Australia. More recently he was elected to the Board of Directors for ISACA Singapore, and as the Director for Programmes & Conferences is responsible for organising conferences/events concerning IT audit and IT governance.