Over a third of internal auditors say their firm has done no Brexit preparation
With just months to go into Britain’s exit from the European Union, more than one in three chief internal auditors say their firm has yet to do any Brexit scenario planning.
A ‘Brexit preparedness survey’ conducted by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (Chartered IIA) found that of 95 UK chief internal auditors questioned, 37 per cent said their firms had not carried out any work in the area of exit planning.
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Only just over half had undertaken any form of preparation, despite four fifths of respondents saying their organisations expected to be impacted by the risks connected to Brexit.
Three quarters of those surveyed said their firms had established working groups looking at Brexit, but 79 per cent said they were awaiting clarity from the government about the outcome of negotiations, and 68 per cent said there were too many current possibilities to begin preparing for.
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Dr Ian Peters, chief executive of the Chartered IIA, said: “Given Brexit represents the biggest strategic risk to the UK’s future prosperity since the financial crisis of 2008, it is somewhat concerning that over a third of organisations are yet to carry out any scenario planning.”
“With just 165 days to go until the UK leaves the EU – deal or no-deal – it is high time organisations got on and made sure they are prepared,” he added.