ICAEW film wins prestigious award

Wednesday 31 October 2018, False Assurance®, a training film produced by ICAEW, has won a bronze award at the prestigious Brandon Hall Group awards. Using the film, a Big 4 accounting firm in the US produced a learning experience based on the topic of professional scepticism, and won in the Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development programme for the Learning and Development category.

ICAEW’s educational film, False Assurance, used high production values and dialogue to portray issues such as cybercrime, fraud and bribery, with a focus on how these issues should be investigated internally. The film, a case study about a fictitious company and its audit over a two-year period, was created to facilitate thought-provoking discussions about how accountants, auditors and company directors should act when faced with difficult situations. The story is broken into four parts - after each part, questions are provided to prompt discussion.

The accounting firm decided to license the film and deliver it to audit professionals in the US. The firm’s designers and content developers used the ICAEW film as the core of an innovative training program and developed workshop materials that would help reinforce the relevance of the film to the firm’s professionals.

The project was recognised by the Brandon Excellence Awards, which recognise the best organisations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. The awards attract entrants from leading corporations around the world, as well as mid-market and smaller firms.

Duncan Wiggetts, Executive Director of Professional Standards at ICAEW and writer of False Assurance, said: ‘We are delighted that False Assurance has achieved this recognition. Organisations around the world are using ICAEW films as part of their internal training programmes and the feedback has been fantastic. To receive this recognition reaffirms our commitment to supporting organisations to continuously raise standards’.

False Assurance is the fifth film written and created by Duncan Wiggetts, ICAEW Executive Director, Professional Standards. It tells the story of a fictitious company, D-Merton, and the events that led to a series of crucial decisions made by its directors. The film focuses on the many tensions within and between the executive management team and the board. It also explores how ethical dilemmas are navigated by the CFO, CEO, chair and the Audit Committee.

Further information can be found at icaew.com/films