What is the purpose of “Aligned Assurance”? Aligned Assurance brings together functions such as Risk Management, Internal Controls, Compliance and Governance.

In many organisations, these functions often operate in isolation. Each may have mature systems in place, but without horizontal integration, complexity and costs remain high while transparency across the organisation remains low.

Example:
Within the development project of an advanced park assist system, the requirements of Internal Control System (ICS) and Compliance Management System (CMS) for the purchasing and engineering departments concerning anti-corruption, safety, and cybersecurity are fully met. However, because the underlying logic, taxonomy and processes are not coordinated, ICS and CMS controls lead to multiple checks, inconsistent documentation, and additional costs.

What exactly is being aligned?
Alignment focuses on clarifying who owns what and ensuring that all assurance functions work from the same foundations:

• Governance defines responsibilities and processes
• The Risk Management System identifies and tracks enterprise risks.
• The Compliance Management System ensures adherence to internal policies and external laws.
• The Internal Control System connects these processes through defined control checkpoints.

Why is alignment important?
When assurance functions work in silos, boards see fragmented information, have no chance to understand the issue fully, and react too late. Integrated assurance gives leadership a full, timely picture of all implications of the issue and the proposed mitigation.

Example:
A consolidated dashboard provides a single overview of the advanced park assist project, including all ICS and CMS checks to be undertaken, all relevant approvals, their status, and any flagged risks. Leadership can immediately see how a change, for example in a supplier, may create new compliance or enterprise risks and can approve a coordinated mitigation plan.

Where does technology fit in?
A unified taxonomy and an integrated Governance, Risk and Compliance (iGRC) platform ensure that key terms and processes are used consistently across the organisation.

Example:
The ICS and CMS teams may have once used different definitions of “risk”, “incident,” or “compliance case”. Through the unified iGRC taxonomy, these terms are now standardised. By integrating their checks and reports in one platform, any issue with the advance park assist system — whether identified in a safety test or a compliance audit —triggers a unified corrective-action workflow in the iGRC tool.

What role does the Governance Regulation Board play?
The Board ensures that all GRC functions participate actively in regulation management and that leadership oversight is properly documented.

How does Internal Audit contribute?
Internal Audit is the independent third line of defence. It reviews how well the risk, control and compliance systems operate together and reports directly to the company's Board.

Example:
Internal Audit conducts a thematic audit on “AI Governance” for the advanced park assist system, covering the effectiveness of both ICS and CMS controls in relation to the artificial intelligence aspects of the system. The results feed back to the unified dashboard, creating a closed feedback loop that supports coordinated, cross-team improvements.

What changes once everything is connected?
With iGRC, risks, controls and actions are interconnected through shared IT tools and a unified taxonomy. Leadership gains a single, decision-ready risk view.

And what is the ultimate value?
When the four assurance links are connected, they can act as strategic advisors to the company's Board and management, providing a coherent risk analysis and mitigation strategy from start to finish.