Internal audit

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EN

The University of Twente's Internal Audit department forms a component of the General Affairs department. Based on expert and objective research (audits and advice), the Internal Audit Department provides the Executive Board and the management team with additional assurance on the effectiveness and control of the operational management of the University, so that it can operate effectively. By issuing solicited and unsolicited advice, the Internal Audit department contributes to the control and quality of operational management, the provision of administrative information and risk management. Internal Audit carries out these audits and provides advice in areas including:

  • (financial) accountability information of faculties and support services within the university;
  • the effectiveness and efficiency of the operational management;
  • relevant processes and underlying IT systems;
  • cultural and behavioural elements.

Examples of the above-mentioned activities are the review of funding statements, the audit of the university' s grant declarations, IT audits and behavioural audits.

The duties of the Internal Audit department have been defined and documented by the University of Twente's Executive Board in an audit charter dated March 2021, which sets out the objective, position, authorisations, responsibilities and assurances for the independence of the Internal Audit department, as well as other matters.

To ensure that the audit activities carried out and the resulting reports meet the (high) quality requirements imposed from the perspective of professional responsibility (relevant legislation and regulations) and to contribute to the substantive quality (uniformity) of the services, the Internal Audit department has adopted a quality control system. The description of this quality control system is documented in a quality handbook. This handbook serves as a guideline for the various procedures within the audit position, as well as being translated into concrete work instructions.

Regarding the efficient execution of audits, the Internal Audit department applies a detailed staff planning and project planning, which enables an adequate deployment and management of people and resources. The independence and required expertise of staff for the performance of the audits and advice are taken into account. In addition, specific audit software (MLE Controle) is used. This software compiles the file in accordance with the auditing standards of the Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants. These auditing standards stipulate that the auditor must carry out a thorough risk analysis, with which a structured response is made to the assessed risks and a clear evaluation is recorded of the discrepancies (considerations) identified during the work. This application provides full insight into these elements and supports the internal audit department in complying with the relevant laws and regulations.

 The contact person for the internal audit position is Renata Oosterkamp (r.j.g.m.oosterkamp@utwente.nl).

Team members

drs. R.J.G.M. Oosterkamp RA (Renata)
drs. R.J.G.M. Oosterkamp RA (Renata)
Head Internal Audit
W.J.B. Weusthof (Wouter)
W.J.B. Weusthof (Wouter)
Supporting staff
drs. H.M. Spenkelink - Stockschlader (Heike)
drs. H.M. Spenkelink - Stockschlader (Heike)
Supporting staff
L.M. Schwartz MSc (Lysanne)
L.M. Schwartz MSc (Lysanne)
Supporting staff
A.B. Ruiz (Alexander)
A.B. Ruiz (Alexander)
Supporting staff

Services

  • Financial audit and advice

    Project audits

    An essential element of Internal Audit's duties is to audit the (interim) financial statements of research projects for external grant providers such as regional, provincial and national governments (including the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw)) as well as European governments (including the Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe and ERDF grant programmes). Internal Audit issues an audit statement or a report of factual findings on these financial statements.

    Grant declarations to be audited should be reported to Internal Audit as soon as possible, so that audit procedures can be scheduled and carried out promptly. Depending on availability in the planning, these activities are performed by the Internal Audit department independently or outsourced to the external (in-house) accountant.

    Project audits can be reported to the contactperson for project audits (see below) with the following information: OFI number, project name, grant programme, estimate of project costs to be reviewed, date project file ready for review and date of deadline for submitting the grant declaration. Periodic coordination takes place with each faculty concerning the project audits to be carried out and the related planning for the accountant's audit.

    drs. H.M. Spenkelink - Stockschlader (Heike)
    drs. H.M. Spenkelink - Stockschlader (Heike)
    Supporting staff

    Annual accounts audit

    The audit of the (consolidated) annual accounts of the University of Twente is carried out by the external (in-house) accountant. The role of Internal Audit is limited to:

    • a coordinating role within the financial statements audit process in which Internal Audit supports the cooperation between the internal organisation and the external auditor.
    • the (pro)active monitoring of the implementation of the findings and observations from the management letter and the accountant’s report.
  • Behavioural audit and advice

    Behavioural auditing is a new discipline within the auditing field that studies behaviour within organisations, aimed at gaining insight into this behaviour and reporting on it, with the objective of influencing this behaviour (the climate and culture within organisations). As it is now widely acknowledged that aspects such as leadership, culture and integrity must increasingly be taken into account in the standard audit (focused on the quality of internal control measures), this discipline (multidisciplinary approach) has been added as a permanent component to the Internal Audit task package.

     The following activities may fall under a behavioural audit or advice assignment:

    • Entity level audit: a UT-wide measurement of culture or behaviour;
    • Process level audit: an investigation of behavioural motivations within an existing process;
    • Theme audit: investigating behavioural motivations related to a relevant theme;
    • Instrument analysis: a review of the design and existence of instruments to manage behaviour (including codes of conduct).
    L.M. Schwartz MSc (Lysanne)
    L.M. Schwartz MSc (Lysanne)
    Supporting staff
  • IT audit and advice

    Developments in the field of IT and digitisation have progressed rapidly in recent years. This offers, first and foremost, opportunities for the University of Twente. Opportunities to explore the technological possibilities and to use them to drive innovation and to improve existing processes and collaboration methods.

    Developments in digitisation and technology also have a major role to play in realising the UT's ambitions for 2030. These ambitions (Shaping 2030) include a digital, sustainable university that is entrepreneurial and open. These objectives can only be achieved if we embrace IT and promote digitisation.

    The level of digitisation is already leading to an increasing number of processes within the University of Twente being dependent on IT systems. This means that the internal control of these IT systems is becoming more important to guarantee the reliability, predictability and continuity of data processing.

    Additionally, within our inherent open university environment, considerable knowledge and data are already being shared between students and staff. This leads to cross-pollination, new insights and ensures that we can take steps together towards renewal and improvement. Being an open environment brings increasing risks in the field of information security and the protection of personal data privacy. It is essential that control measures are in place to prevent malicious parties from gaining access to sensitive UT information (such as intellectual property) and to prevent critical data (such as personal data) from being leaked. This is why Internal Audit advises management on structural developments in risks and related control measures (such as in the field of cyber security).

    The IT audit and consulting work focuses mainly on processes supported by IT systems and the risks and control measures associated with them. These include, for example:

    • evaluating general IT control measures concerning relevant applications;
    • fulfilling a Quality Assurance role in change processes (for example, in the application landscape);
    • conducting/coordinating security or privacy assessments;
    • evaluating university processes (specifically with regard to automated control measures).
    A.B. Ruiz (Alexander)
    A.B. Ruiz (Alexander)
    Supporting staff
    W.J.B. Weusthof (Wouter)
    W.J.B. Weusthof (Wouter)
    Supporting staff
  • Funding audit

    The audit of the University of Twente's statement of funding data concerns the review of the reliability of the data regarding enrolments, degree awards, dissertations and designer's certificates. This funding data is decisive for the university's lawful acquisition of the state contribution. The Internal Audit department investigates the funding data annually resulting in an assurance report. The OCW Education Accountants' Protocol stipulates the scope and depth of this audit.

    drs. H.M. Spenkelink - Stockschlader (Heike)
    drs. H.M. Spenkelink - Stockschlader (Heike)
    Supporting staff

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