West Virginia Code 33-33-12a – Internal Audit Function Requirements
(a) An insurer is exempt from the requirements of this section if:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 33-33-12a
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Audit committee: means a committee or equivalent body established by the board of directors of an entity for the purpose of overseeing the accounting and financial reporting processes of an insurer or group of insurers, and audits of financial statements of the insurer or group of insurers. See West Virginia Code 33-33-2
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Group of insurers: means those licensed insurers included in the reporting requirements of article 27 of this chapter, or a set of insurers as identified by management for the purpose of assessing the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. See West Virginia Code 33-33-2
- Insurer: means any domestic insurer as defined in section six, article one of this chapter and includes any domestic stock insurance company, mutual insurance company, reciprocal insurance company, farmers" mutual fire insurance company, fraternal benefit society, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, health care corporation, health maintenance organization, captive insurance company or risk retention group and any licensed foreign or alien insurer defined in article one of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 33-33-2
- Internal audit function: means a person or persons that provide independent, objective and reasonable assurance designed to add value and improve an organization's operations and accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. See West Virginia Code 33-33-2
- Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(1) The insurer has annual direct written and unaffiliated assumed premium, including international direct and assumed premium but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, less than $500 million; and
(2) If the insurer is a member of a group of insurers, the group has annual direct written and unaffiliated assumed premium, including international direct and assumed premium but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, less than $1 billion.
(b) The insurer or group of insurers shall establish an internal audit function providing independent, objective and reasonable assurance to the audit committee and insurer management regarding the insurer’s governance, risk management and internal controls. This assurance shall be provided by performing general and specific audits, reviews and tests and by employing other techniques deemed necessary to protect assets, evaluate control effectiveness and efficiency, and evaluate compliance with policies and regulations.
(c) In order to ensure that internal auditors remain objective, the internal audit function must be organizationally independent. Specifically, the internal audit function may not defer ultimate judgment on audit matters to others, and shall appoint an individual to head the internal audit function who will have direct and unrestricted access to the board of directors. Organizational independence does not preclude dual-reporting relationships.
(d) The head of the internal audit function shall report to the audit committee regularly, but no less than annually, on the periodic audit plan, factors that may adversely impact the internal audit function’s independence or effectiveness, material findings from completed audits and the appropriateness of corrective actions implemented by management as a result of audit findings.
(e) If an insurer is a member of an insurance holding company system or included in a group of insurers, the insurer may satisfy the internal audit function requirements set forth in this section at the ultimate controlling parent level, an intermediate holding company level or the individual legal entity level.