Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017

130 before their approval by the Board. To ensure that the Audit Department was not hindered in the exercise of its functions, it reported directly to the Audit Committee of the Board although it reported administratively to the governor. The department met with some resistance in the early years of its existence. This is not surprising, given that the director of internal audit has to identify areas of weakness in a department, discuss them with the department head and help to devise a plan of action for correcting the deficiencies. In so doing it is often necessary to ask uncomfortable questions or pursue unpopular courses of action. The establishment of the Internal Audit Department allowed a wider range of activities to be assessed. For example, a major undertaking for the young department was to conduct an assessment of Project 2000, the initiative launched by the Bank in August 1997 to address the readiness of the financial system to deal with the year 2000 date change issue. Since the establishment of the department, security at all levels was the focus of many of the audits, in light of the Bank’s responsibility for managing the national currency. Business continuity planning During the new millennium, the Bank started to pay greater attention to the management of emergencies, again in keeping with best practice for modern institutions. As part of the new approach, in 2002 a Risk and Disaster Management Manual was completed and a Hotsite (where operations could be maintained in case the main building was compromised) was established. Two years later an Emergency Evacuation Manual was issued, staff and tenants received training in the use of fire extinguishers, the fire alarm system was replaced and annual fire drills instituted to familiarise staff and tenants with evacuation procedures. 74 These exercises were conducted in collaboration with the Central Emergency Relief Organisation (CERO) - now the Department of Emergency Management - the Fire Service,