How to Develop a Successful Business Continuity Audit Program that Will Help Ensure Your Program is Compliant and Effective

Why Should You Attend:

This webinar will provide an overview on creating a business continuity audit plan that is effective and in line with the company's objectives. It will help attendees understand regulations, standards and requirements pertinent to business continuity audits as well.

This webinar will define the risks or threats to the success of an audit plan and train attendees on how to test the controls in place to determine whether or not those risks are acceptable. It will further discuss how an audit should quantify the impact of weaknesses of the plan and offer recommendations for business continuity plan improvements.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• What should be included in a business continuity audit?
• Setting controls
• Which regulations and standards apply to business continuity audits
• Examining evidence about the performance of activities
• Verifying measures to ensure continuity
• Evaluating quality vs. a general template

Who will Benefit:

• Internal Auditors
• Business Continuity Practitioners
• Chief Financial Officer
• Controller
• Chief Audit Executive
• Risk Managers
• Compliance Managers
• Professionals in Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery , Cyber Security and Information Security

Instructor Profile:

Dr. Michael C. Redmond, PhD, is CEO and lead consultant for Redmond Worldwide, and is an international consultant, speaker, author, and teacher. Dr. Redmond has been consulting independently since 2004. She has worked for 7 ½ years for both Deloitte and KPMG. She has two Masters’ Certification in Business Continuity, and has taught business continuity in John Jay Graduate School and at the New York University. Dr. Redmond, MBCP, FBCI, CEM, MBA, PhD, is the program director for Eastern Great Lakes Association of Contingency Planning Chapter.

Her past experience includes 13 years as a senior manager with Deloitte, KPMG and Chubb in the areas of: compliance, crisis management, business continuity, disaster recovery, emergency management, internal audit/ gap analysis. She was a business continuity/disaster recovery manager with the Bank of New York.

Dr. Redmond is in 2013 Who’s Who Among Executives and Professionals and is in the Academic and Professional National Honor Society for Continuity Planners, “Order of the Sword & Shield”.

She spent 4 years on active duty with the army and 18 1/2 years as National Guard and Reserve before retiring as a Major. She is a graduate of Command & General Staff College (Fort Leavenworth), attended civil affairs courses at the US Army JFK School of Special Warfare and is Hazmat trained and DOD certified.

Topic Background:

The goal of a business continuity audit is to determine whether a plan is effective and in line with the company's objectives. A business continuity audit process is a critical part of ensuring an entity’s ability to remain in business in a disaster. Knowing what is acceptable vs what should be in a plan are essential. Some companies with auditors who did not really understand business continuity are no longer in business, because the company’s business continuity plan was not sufficient in an actual disaster.

Knowing best practice guidelines for auditing a program is a must. There are so many regulations, standards and requirements to plow through, that many auditors are less than prepared. A business continuity plan audit should define the risks or threats to the success of the plan and test the controls in place to determine whether or not those risks are acceptable. An audit should also quantify the impact of weaknesses of the plan and offer recommendations for business continuity plan improvements.

The nature, complexity and cost of the business continuity program are related to the nature of the business’ dependence on information technology. Business continuity, which in the earlier days meant just taking backups of data on tape and putting it away somewhere, has come a long way—becoming a complex program both in terms of technology and processes.

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