“The riskiest risk is the one you didn’t even know existed.” – Unknown
Across boardrooms and audit functions in Africa, a quiet storm is brewing — one that threatens to render traditional audit planning frameworks obsolete. Geopolitical disruptions, Climate instability, Algorithmic bias, Talent shortages, Digital misinformation, ESG backlash, etc. The risk universe is no longer static — it’s expanding, mutating, and accelerating. Yet too many audit plans are still based on last year’s assumptions.
At AfriAudit, we believe it’s time for a strategic redesign — one that transforms audit planning from a compliance-driven checklist into a forward-looking enterprise radar.
Inside This Edition
- Why your current risk universe may already be outdated
- How to future-proof audit planning in volatile times
- The anatomy of an “emerging risk-ready” audit function
- Case insights from African institutions already rethinking the game
Outdated Risk Universes: The Silent Audit Vulnerability
Let’s be candid: many internal audit teams still build their annual plans based on risk registers that were written when COVID-19 was just a headline in Wuhan.
These plans often prioritize what’s already well-controlled, while missing where value is most exposed.
The result?
- Cyber threats that aren’t in scope
- ESG risks buried under operational metrics
- Strategic projects going live with no embedded assurance
- Cultural toxicity bubbling beneath the metrics of “staff engagement”
A West African telco recently learned this the hard way. Their audit plan didn’t include digital customer onboarding because it was “new and still under development.” Within nine months, the initiative was hacked — compromising 80,000 accounts and triggering reputational damage across three markets. The root cause? A planning process that didn’t anticipate emerging digital risk vectors.
From Lagging to Leading: What the Modern Audit Plan Must Do
To remain relevant, audit planning must evolve from being reactive to strategic. The best audit leaders now ask:
- What’s changing in our environment — technologically, socially, politically?
- Where are our blind spots — not just internally, but across our value chain?
- What bolds moves is the business making — and are we providing foresight, not just hindsight?
Redesigning your risk universe requires courage and curiosity. It demands that auditors stop assuming risks are only born from legacy systems — and start engaging with how innovation, disruption, and strategic ambition create new exposures.
The Three Anchors of Emerging-Risk Audit Planning
1. Environmental Scanning as a Core Audit Competency
Gone are the days when risk intelligence was “someone else’s job.” Today’s high-impact auditors monitor:
- Global trends (e.g., generative AI risks)
- Regulatory shifts (e.g., sustainability disclosure standards)
- Local volatility (e.g., election cycles, currency fragility)
By fusing macro and micro signals, internal audit can adjust the risk lens in real-time — not after the crisis hits.
2. Engaging the Business — Not Just Interviewing It
Audit plans should be co-created with operational and strategic leaders, not extracted from interviews.
Smart audit functions now:
- Sit in on strategy off-sites
- Review innovation pipeline dashboards
- Host “risk foresight labs” with project teams
- Partner with enterprise risk to re-map evolving exposure clusters
In a Southern African development finance institution, auditors shadowed innovation leads on new fintech partnerships. The insight? Emerging third-party risks were moving faster than legal vetting. That single discovery redirected 15% of the audit plan to vendor risk — preempting reputational fallout.
3. Flexible, Rolling Audit Planning Models
Annual plans are no longer enough. Adaptive planning — reviewed quarterly or triggered by change events — is becoming standard.
This allows auditors to:
- Pivot with agility
- Embed assurance into strategy execution
- Respond to black swans and “gray rhinos” as they emerge
It also changes the conversation at the board level — from “Did we audit what we said?” to “Did we audit what mattered?”
Audit’s New Role: Enterprise Risk Translator
Internal audit is uniquely placed to translate the language of risk into insight that drives better decisions. But to do this, we must stop auditing from last year’s playbook and start engaging with the risks that are shaping next year’s outcomes.
This means building new muscles in:
- Strategic anticipation
- Risk storytelling
- Systemic thinking
- Cross-functional collaboration
It means moving from comfort zones into consequence zones.
A Final Word to Audit Leaders
The world is not waiting for your audit plan to catch up. Emerging risks are unfolding in real-time, reshaping the contours of corporate exposure — and institutional trust.
As an audit leader, your challenge is not just to identify risk. It’s to stay relevant in how you prioritize it, plan around it, and push the organization to act on it.
Because in a world of rising uncertainty, internal audit is not just a control mechanism — it’s a navigation system.
Let’s build audit plans that aren’t just technically sound — but strategically vital.
Let’s audit forward.
Our Commitment at AfriAudit
AfriAudit is more than a newsletter.
It’s a movement — to restore trust in audit, reposition the profession as a strategic partner, and help Africa’s leaders make clarity-driven, principled decisions.
We believe that when audit works, trust thrives.
Let’s Build This Together
Are you a CEO, board member, auditor, or policymaker committed to principled leadership?
Let’s elevate the internal audit profession across Africa. Let’s unlock its full potential as a lever for transformation and trust.
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With clarity and commitment,
Titus Wambua
Chief Audit Executive | Governance Advisor | Founder, AfriAudit
Turning audit into a boardroom asset — one institution at a time.
