A Deloitte poll conducted in Oct. 13, 2020 found that 77.6% of respondents' organizations plan to strengthen resilience for internal controls in the year ahead.

1. As risks continue to abound, many
plan to strengthen internal controls
Deloitte poll results from October 2020

2. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
265+
Methodology
professionals were polled online during a
Deloitte webcast titled, “Resilience meets
controls modernization and digitization” on
Oct. 13, 2020. Answer rates differed by
question.
In some instances, immaterial amounts (e.g., +/-0.1%) have
been added to or removed from the “Don’t know/not
applicable” answer responses to bring results to 100% total
for each question.

3. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Votes received 292
During the past 12 months, have the size and frequency of risks that your
organization’s internal controls program tests and monitors changed?
Yes, size and frequency
has increased
No change
Yes, size and frequency
has decreased
Don’t know / not applicable = 22.2%
41.0%
31.1%
5.8%

4. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Votes received 267
During the next 12 months, does your organization plan to strengthen the
resilience of its internal controls program?
Yes, 77.6%
No, 6.0%
Don't Know/Not
Applicable, 16.4%

5. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Votes received 289
Which best describes your organization’s use of advanced technologies (e.g.,
artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, analytics and visualization,
etc.) in its internal controls program?
Advanced – We currently use one or more advanced
technologies
Building – We do not currently use advanced
technologies, but are actively working to begin use of
one or more in the next 12 months
Planning – We do not currently use advanced
technologies, but are planning working to begin use
at some point later than 12 months from now
Absent – We do not currently use advanced
technologies, nor do we have plans to do so
Don’t know / not applicable = 16.9%
22.1%
28.3%
20.3%
12.4%

6. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Votes received 319
During the next 6 months, which group poses the greatest challenge to your
organization’s internal controls program?
Staffing changes—personnel shifts drive significant or rapid changes in
IT security models, eroding segregation of duties in varying points across the
enterprise; ongoing virtual work environment
Third parties—monitoring third parties via extended enterprise
programs; monitoring and control breakdowns at third-party organizations
Workforce reductions—staff reductions result in lags for monitoring
processes to quickly detect deficient controls and processes
Accounting professionals—economic volatility and business
conditions drive unplanned accounting adjustments, as well as significant
changes in accounting judgments and estimates
Don’t know / not applicable = 17.5%
26.9%
22.2%
16.9%
9.7%
6.9%
Business lines taking decentralized approach IT
procurement—pressures and incentives within the business result in
increased adoption of technology services outside of typical protocols

7. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Looking ahead to 12 months from now, which poses the greatest challenge to
your organization’s internal controls program?
Votes received 313
Business units
slow to adopt
advanced
technologies
(e.g., AI,
automation,
analytics and
visualization)
Legacy systems
don’t offer great
reporting—need
to implement
new or upgraded
Enterprise
Resource
Planning (ERP)
platforms
Siloed behavior,
inclusive of
limited use of
virtual
collaboration
tools
Organic
organizational
structure changes
(e.g., new lines of
business created,
M&A activity,
etc.)
Speed of
migration of in-
house systems to
the cloud
21.3%
19.4%
10.5%
15.6% 15.0%
Don’t know / not applicable = 18.2%
51.3% current limitations in organizational
technology stacks

8. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Is your organization’s internal controls program optimized?
Votes received 301
Yes, we’ve optimized our
internal controls program and
add value to the business
through it, 17.2%
Yes, but our internal controls
program isn’t fully
optimized, as it’s dependent
on a small number of key
personnel with unique skills
and as efficacy varies with
funding availability, 32.8%
No, our internal controls
program is far from
optimized, as it’s costly
with limited ROI, 11.6%
No, our internal controls
program is not optimized and
we’ve become aware that
changes are needed (e.g.,
third-party concerns from
auditors, regulators, etc.),
15.6%
Don’t Know/Not
Applicable, 22.9%

9. As Risks Continue to Abound, Many Plan to Strengthen Internal ControlsCopyright © 2020 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Media Contacts
Taylor Graham
Public Relations
Deloitte Services LP
tagraham@deloitte.com
Shelley Pfaendler
Public Relations
Deloitte Services LP
spfaendler@deloitte.com

10. The statements in this report reflect the aggregation of poll responses and are not intended to reflect facts or opinions of any entities. All data,
charts and statistics referenced and presented, as well as the representations made and opinions expressed, unless specifically described
otherwise, pertain only to the participants and their responses to the Deloitte poll. The information obtained during the poll was taken “as is”
and was not validated or confirmed by Deloitte.
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