From 2017, Estateguru has expanded outside Estonia to offer real estate investment opportunities in the other Baltic states and elsewhere in Europe. With rapid growth taking place, it started to improve and change the company’s risk management system, which led to a need for an internal auditor. The company felt it was better not to hire their own and instead looked to outsource the service. “We looked at what the biggest providers on the market were offering. Grant Thornton Baltic’s experience in the field of risk management and internal audit services and the fact that their internal auditors had an academic background spoke in their favour. The price-to-quality ratio was also good,” said member of Estateguru’s management board and risk manager Andres Luts.
Even though crowdfunding platforms aren’t required by law to cover the internal audit function, Luts says the work of an internal auditor is necessary. “We have our own internal controller but internal auditors also check whether our activities meet all requirements. That mitigates risks – you wouldn’t want any specific field to be awry or have damage. Internal auditors meet our company’s risk committee regularly and give an overview of what audits have been performed and what the results have been. We take internal auditors’ findings seriously and rectify problems. We want to follow the same kinds of standards as the banking sector,” emphasizes Andres Luts.
He says an internal auditor is like a quality label, giving certainty that the company’s processes and procedures are verified. Clients also gain from the sense of assurance. “We have presented internal auditor’s reports to investors – potential future shareholders – and to banks and other institutions who invest funds into loan projects through our platform,” says Luts.
Cooperation with Grant Thornton Baltic’s internal auditors is characterized by transparency and concreteness, says Luts. “They’re very forthright and forthcoming and the work is well structured and understandable,” Luts says.
Grant Thornton Baltic’s internal audits at Estateguru: managing insurance information on the loan collateral, and audits of processes related to payments, the invoice approval process and loan project documentation.
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