Assurance

Combined assurance means coordinating all the people who provide assurance — management, risk and compliance functions, internal audit, external audit, and regulators — so the board gets a complete, non-duplicated picture of how well risks are being managed. King IV requires it because boards kept getting blindsided by failures that multiple assurance providers had individually reviewed but never collectively connected. Combined assurance closes that gap.

The three lines model describes three groups that protect an organisation from risk. The first line is operational management — the people actually running the business and owning the controls. The second line is risk management and compliance — the functions that set the framework and monitor adherence. The third line is internal and external audit — independent assurance that the whole system works. Most organisations have all three lines; very few have them coordinated in a way that the board can actually see.

Dimeri generates an assurance map that shows, for each key risk area, which of the three lines is providing assurance and how strong that coverage is. Gaps — risk areas with no third line coverage, or first line controls that have never been independently tested — are flagged immediately. This gives the board and audit committee a clear view of where the organisation's defence is solid and where it needs attention.

Yes. Dimeri isn't designed to replace your internal audit management system — it's designed to give the governance layer a consolidated view that includes what internal audit has covered. Audit findings and the risks they relate to can be recorded in Dimeri so that the board's combined assurance map reflects the full picture, not just the risk register and controls.

The assurance calendar in Dimeri lets you plan all assurance activities — management self-assessments, compliance reviews, internal audit engagements, and external audits — in one place. You can see what's scheduled, what's overdue, and what coverage each activity provides. At any point in the year, leadership can see exactly where assurance has been completed and where gaps remain before year-end.