Key focus areas

Developments in key focus areas

Monitor

the

progress

on

the

The internal control improvement programme is an intensified drive to

implementation

and

standardisation

of

improve, enhance and standardise the internal control posture in the

key controls to further enhance the

organisation. Progress on activities to coordinate and oversee the

overall control environment.

standardisation of key controls across key processes includes:

●

Continuing to enhance the understanding and baselining the current

maturity levels of the Finance Operating Model with an intention to identify

opportunities for control improvement.

●

Development and implementation of an Internal Control Framework (ICF)

in consultation with the organisation-wide assurance partner.

●

Development of a Control Self-Assessment (CSA) tool and attestation

process to aid management with control oversight.

●

Standardising a minimum set of key internal controls.

Strengthening

the

effectiveness

of

The Group reviewed, updated and drafted new policies to strengthen the

internal controls and internal financial

control environment.

controls.

The Group completed a finance skills assessment and developed a

programme to enhance finance capabilities across taxation, treasury and

finance operations functions.

Further, an enhanced attestation process was implemented to ensure that

Chief Financial Officers and Chief Executive Officers across the Group

continually considered the internal control environment.

Oversight of the salient matters reported

The Group's operating companies including its platform businesses, Fintech

by the Audit Committees of the Group's

and Bayobab, submit quarterly reports to the Group Audit Committee. The

operating companies.

committee reviews these reports and identifies key themes or material items

that require further management attention.

Continue to review the implementation of

The committee continues to review the execution of the enterprise cloud

the enterprise cloud solution across the

solution against the Group's Strategic roadmap. Cloud solution deployments

Group's footprint, the delivery of additional

continued for the Group's operating companies, including its platform

functionality,

enhancements

to

platform

business, Bayobab, and the Group's operation in Côte d'Ivoire. Progress

performance

management

and

incident

reviews noted sustainable cadence reflecting the maturity of the platform.

resolution and the decommissioning of

some legacy platforms.

Ensure fair and balanced financial

The committee considered the appropriateness of the Group's financial

reporting.

reporting to ensure fair and balanced reporting is achieved. The committee

reviewed submissions and presentations by management on the financial

results, significant transactions, critical accounting judgements and

assumptions, as well as views by the Group's auditor on key audit matters

and internal auditors on internal financial controls.

The committee has recommended that the Board approves both the

summarised and Annual Financial Statements.

As part of the ongoing enhancement of financial reporting within the Group,

the Group designed and is implementing a verticalisation of technical

accounting skills across the Group. This involved expanding the

technical accounting team, including in-country technical accounting

resources for key operations and the platform businesses.

Consider the potential benefits from the

The Group made progress in implementing RPA bots for automating manual

introduction Robotic Process Automation

tasks relating to intercompany mismatching and the tax return processes for

(RPA) for key finances processes and

professional fees and travel expenses.

controls.