INSURANCE COMPANIES, AS WELL AS ORGANIZATIONS in other industries, are relying more and more on the internal audit process to verify their compliance with various laws and regulations. To ensure that they can continue that reliance, the insurance industry is actively promoting the idea that internal auditors' work should be given the same legally protected status as communications with doctors, lawyers, and priests. This protection is referred to as "privileged communications status." Since 1997, five U.S. states--Illinois, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, and Michigan--have enacted legislation that, in certain circumstances, protects internal audit work from unwelcome scrutiny. Privileged communications status has changed over time, varies based on the type of information being reviewed, and can be controversial. As companies are encouraged through legislation such as the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to engage in self-examination, the likelihood of the expansion of the status into other states and additional areas of internal auditing increases. When it does become available, this privileged status will likely apply to self-examinations that meet certain criteria. By knowing those criteria, internal auditors can take action now to maximize the chances that work performed today will be protected from discovery during future litigation.

1. Auditing Insurance Business
By
Tommy Seah
The right way to audit any business is to first acquire the product knowledge.
This is the cardinal principle that many auditors seem to have overlook.
Furthermore, COSO,COBIT, ERM is of no practical value is there is no grip on the
basic principle of the nature of the business.
The insurance industry has had to develop to deal with the changing circumstances
of the current business paradigm. With continual changes to regulation and ever
increasing demands on the insurance industry, firms are reviewing their control
environment to ensure that a suitable and robust system of controls is implemented
effectively.
The role of internal audit within the insurance industry is increasingly at the forefront
of these developments. With the dual drivers of corporate governance and
regulation, senior management and other stakeholders are looking to internal audit
to provide a higher level of service to provide the level of assurance required to meet
these challenges.
This course systematically considers the risks and controls that are appropriate
within the insurance industry and designs internal audit approaches that are suitable
to meet these demands. Through a series of practical case studies and the
discussion of key issues, delegates will build a series of internal audit programmes
using SEATATM which will be directly applicable to their institutions and can be used
in practice.

2. Course Objective:
The integral focus for this program is to train auditors what to audit and how
to audit the insurance business.
1. A general understanding of the concept of insurance
2. A general appreciation of the mechanics involved in the insurance
business; spanning from sales, underwriting to claims payout.
3. This coverage is to cover both life and general insurance products.
4. A general appreciation of the basic insurance products available in the
market.
5. The involvement of the actuarial studies in relation to the product
development and monitoring phases.
6. The relevance of internal controls and compliance in the insurance
business environment.
7. Have a general understanding of insurance accounting and the impact to
the balance sheet and profit and loss statements
8. Concept of insurance reserve, its reserving process and the reporting in
financial statements.
9. Fraud activities that occur in insurance industry.

3. Course Outline
No Areas Estimated
Hours
1 A general understanding of the concept of 2
insurance audit using SEATA
2 A general appreciation of the mechanics involved 2
in the insurance business; spanning from sales,
underwriting to claims payout.
3 The generic products available in both life and 1
general insurance.
4 A general appreciation of the basic insurance 1
products available in the market.
5 Identify controls through SEATA flowcharting and 4
identifying potential weaknesses through
flowcharting
6 The relevance of internal controls and compliance 2
in the insurance business environment.
7 Have a general understanding of insurance 1
accounting and the impact to the balance sheet
and profit and loss statements
8 Concept of insurance reserve, its reserving 1
process and the reporting in financial statements
9 Fraud activities that occur in insurance industry 2
Workshop to be conducted on 2 consecutive days. ( 16 Hours)

4. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the 2-days training sessions, participants will be able to have :
1. A better grasp of the insurance business. This will assist the participants
to appreciate the mechanics of the business processes within the
insurance industry.
2. A better appreciation of the internal controls. This will facilitate the
participants to understand the purposes of those internal controls within a
business processes. Thus, this will provide a better judgment for the
participants to make an assessment on the effectiveness and efficiency of
the controls in place.
3. Know the difference between internal controls and the compliance with
standard operating procedures. The participants will be able to define the
controls within the written procedures and policies of the organization.
Furthermore, the participants can understand that risk management may
not necessary be covered in a compliance review where controls may not
necessary be incorporated.
4. Able to identify controls through flowcharting and identifying potential
weaknesses through flowcharting. This will be the ultimate objective for
the participants as flowcharting is the fundamental aspect of
understanding a work process. This will provide the participants an
enhanced opportunity to carry out effective analysis of the defined work
process.

5. METHOD OF INSTRUCTION
- LIVELY AND INTERACTIVE LECTURES BY THE TRAINERS
- PRESENTATION WILL BE DONE MAINLY VIA POWERPOINT
- WHERE APPROPRIATE, VIDEOS AND VIDEO CLIPS WILL BE USED TO
COMPLEMENT THE LECTURES
- PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND FLOW CHARTING SESSIONS
- Q and A REVIEW SESSIONS
- SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY FROM CLIENT, CUSTOMISED TRAINING
CASE STUDIES WILL BE USED

6. OUR TRAINER –
MR TOMMY SEAH CFE, CSI, FCPA, MSID, FAIA, MCIB
The Only Regent Emeritus of ACFE in Asia Pacific Region
Asia’s No. 1 Fraud Buster, Banking & Insurance Industry
Associate Trainer of Social Services Training Institute
Tommy is the only Singaporean that has made a name for himself in America’s largest and
world renowned Anti-Fraud Association. In 2006, he was elected by his peers in more than
100 countries to be the Vice Chairman of The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Board of Regents based in Texas, USA. CFE is a post graduate professional qualification
recognized by the FBI and USA Central Intelligence Agency in it’s recruitment of auditors
for combating fraud. He is also the Chairperson of CSI-World Headquarters. CSI is the only
Digital Forensic Certification body that operates in Asia.
A number of auditors in the United Nations and government services proudly carry the CSI
designation with distinction. Today, Tommy is the Number 1 fraud buster in Asia. His
services in providing anti fraud and technical product training is much sought after by
numerous multi-national companies, banks and governments in the region, including
Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan.
Tommy's previous work experience includes systems based auditing in an American
International Bank, where he was the Senior Regional Auditor responsible for the Bank's
audit in the Asia Pacific region. He has also held the top executive position of Chief of
Internal Audit in a prime offshore bank where his audit duties cover the Singapore and Hong
Kong operations of the bank. He covers all areas of the bank's audit of operations and IT
systems. He also has practical working experience in the Operations Department of a foreign
bank. Of late, Tommy has very successfully trained Anti-Narcotics Police Officers from most
of the ASEAN countries. In 2008, he was awarded the privilege to train the highly skilled
and intellectually superior officers from the Competition Commission of Singapore.
Tommy Seah is also a prolific writer. He is the author of seven banking books including the
F.I.G. Program. The FIG is the authoritative and definitive text on Financial Instruments
designed to be used in the world wide banking industry for product training. This publication
has received excellent review and first class commendation from some of the most
authoritative professional certification body and top rated banks in the world. The other six
authoritative texts used in his training are The Foreign Exchange Audit, The Control of
Money Market Activities in Banks, Financial Management, MCA for Banks, SWAPS in
Investment Banking and Anti-Money Laundering 101. His latest publication attempt is on
Profiling and Interviewing Techniques. He has set for himself the goal to be the first Asian to
write the first book in “Technology Fraud for the Banking Industry”.
For the past twenty nine years, Tommy Seah has trained some of the top lawyers, bankers,
accountants, investigators in the banks and financial institutions in the region. In particular,
his expertise in SOX 404, AML and Basel II systems implementation and compliance is
much sought after by financial institutions and banks in Germany, Brunei, China, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.