The Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD) and KPMG unveiled on Thursday, October 9, the official launch of the 12th Position paper of the Audit Committee Forum, entitled ‘Ethical considerations around data management.’ In a world increasingly shaped by unprecedented technological acceleration, the organisers are facing new and complex challenges pertaining to huge amounts of data generated and treated daily. The need for data management poses as an essential lever for organisational resilience and creation of sustainable value, beyond regulatory obligations and mostly an emerging ethical responsibility: collecting, processing, and exploiting data with rigor, transparency, and meaning.
This new Position Paper serves as a reference guide for audit committees, called upon to shift from simple financial guarantors veering towards real ethical data watchdogs, set in a context increasingly marked by Artificial Intelligence, dematerialisation and algorithmic monitoring.
This publication marks a new step in the Audit Committee Forum’s journey to strengthen responsible corporate governance in Mauritius. The launch was also marked by the participation of Dr. Lincoln Cave, Accredited Ethics Practitioner of the Ethics Institute of South Africa, who shared an international perspective on the ethical issues of data management in the digital age.
CEO at MIoD and Chairperson of the Audit Committee Forum Sheila Ujoodha commented: “Data has emerged as the backbone of the digital economy, but their potential can only be met by a governance centred on trust, ethics, and responsibility. The 12th Position Paper goes beyond conformity while urging the audit committee to question the fairness of algorithms, transparency on automated decision processes, and the capacity of organisations to anticipate ethical risks pertaining to data usage. As a platform dedicated to strengthening the governance of enterprises on the island, the MIoD, through the Audit Committee Forum to empower leaders and members of audit committees to better answer such new challenges with clarity and integrity.“
The Minister for Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Dr Avinash Ramtohul, underlined: “Ethics is an essential component of our digital transformation. While the Ministry spearheads the Digital Transformation Blueprint 2025–2029 and the national strategy on Artificial Intelligence, we are fully aware that modernisation of services, security of infrastructure, and data governance should move together. The work accomplished by the MIoD and the Audit Committee Forum on its Position Paper constitutes a significant contribution to the national dialogue surrounding data protection, algorithm transparency, and digital sovereignty. I urge the audit committees to draw inspiration from it to enrich their discussions, fine-tune their questions, and strengthen ethical vigilance within their organisations.”
On the other hand, the Managing Partner at KPMG John Chung told: “In an environment where data feeds at the same time strategy, innovation, and decision making, the audit committees must now integrate complex ethical issues into their field of vigilance. The 12th Position Paper advocates a structured framework for reflection to help support this evolution by asking the right questions on transparency, usage of AI and information governance. As a founding partner of the Audit Committee Forum, KPMG is proud to contribute to this initiative by the side of the MIoD, promoting governance practices adapted to digital reality. “
Since its inception in 2013, the Audit Committee Forum, an advocacy forum of the MIoD in collaboration with KPMG, has had the mission of supporting audit committees in a constantly evolving environment by providing them with tools to reflect on strategic topics such as risk, cybersecurity, business continuity, or data governance. This 12th Position Paper is fully in line with this approach, by addressing the ethical considerations related to data management at a time when artificial intelligence, automated processing, and data circulation are redefining the requirements in terms of corporate governance.
All the Position Papers of the Audit Committee Forum, including this 12th publication, are accessible on: https://miod.mu/publications/position-papers.
