ThinkTWENTY20

For the first time in over twenty years, a comprehensive review of the governance and structure of standard setting in Canada has been launched. The major initiative has been announced and was initiated by the Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council (AASOC) and the Accounting Standards Oversight Council (AcSOC).

The overriding purpose of the review, to be delivered in one year, is to ensure the Canadian standards setting process remains relevant to stakeholders and takes into consideration recent changes in the international arena. An important change internationally is the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board ISSB by the IFRS trustees. Included in the terms of reference of the review is the potential formation of a Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB), truly a monumental change in Canadian standards setting because it would bring sustainability standards fully into the mainstream and have the potential of leading significant change to corporate reporting.

For more on these developments, check out these links:

News release:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/accounting-and-auditing-standards-oversight-councils-initiate-review-of-standard-setting-in-canada-801793361.html

Terms of Reference:
https://www.frascanada.ca/en/independent-standard-setting-review/terms-of-reference

During the pandemic, companies have been finding their existing data management processes  are in need of repair. They had previously been trying to implement Machine learning and AI to speed up and optimise their decision processes. However, the need for streamlined processes has been growing as a result of disruptions like shifting supply chains and relocated workplaces.

In our time of data driven decision making, data must be able to be relied on. That’s an important reason for thinking about data resilience. Reliable data must be available when needed. But data resilience involves more than availability. It includes anything that impedes the data from meeting its intended use. That involves security, usability, robustness, reliability, performance, and so on.

However, data resilience is often regarded as a technology problem. This could not be further from the truth.

Data resilience involves people. People have different degrees of knowledge about data and sometimes specific knowledge may not be available when needed.

Data resilience also requires that controls be in place to ensure availability and provide protection from disruption. These controls need to be planned, implemented and monitored before problems arise.

Finally, data resilience involves governance as well. Governance involves establishing who owns the data and any related processes and who is responsible for executing the processes.

An excellent article on this topic can be found at https://www.isaca.org/resources/isaca-journal/issues/2021/volume-3/data-resilience-is-data-risk-management.