Internal Audit

Stamford, CT (August 31, 2021) – Audit functions that fail to adapt well to hybrid auditing risk a loss of effectiveness and influence at a time when real-time assurance has never been more vital to the wider organization, according to Gartner, Inc. With hybrid audit engagements here to stay for the foreseeable future, audit leaders must ensure audit processes are still effective and staff remain engaged. “Audit leaders had to switch abruptly to remote audits during the pandemic and Chief...

Audit Organizations Should Improve Their Visibility into Change but They Should Also Strive to Deploy Audit Resources Faster Stamford, CT (August 4, 2021) – A February 2021 survey of 200 audit business partners revealed that over half (56%) of respondents said they were facing more changes in the last two years, and a large majority agreed these changes were both bigger (81%) and faster (74%), according to Gartner, Inc. The pace of change is set to continue with 65% of...

With internal audit, any disruption to the tried-and-true tends to raise hackles. But emerging governance, methodologies and technologies are allowing teams to grow more agile and efficient. Brian Christensen weighs in on some actionable steps to carry teams through this transformation. A global pandemic, a growing number of stakeholder demands, rapidly changing business models and a risk landscape with shorter cycle times — internal audit teams are dealing with a lot of changes. There are new methodologies and enabling technologies...

Most companies change audit firms eventually, but the process isn't easy and can present many challenges during and after the fact. Ron Kral describes steps you can take to mitigate them. Was your annual audit or quarterly filing process with the SEC more painful than usual? Did you hear more about petty issues rather than meaningful insights? Did you have to reorient a new team of auditors just like last year? There are a multitude of reasons to consider a...

Global consulting firm Protiviti has released its 2021 Next-Generation Internal Audit Survey, finding that most chief audit executives (CAEs) and senior internal audit leaders and their teams are still in the early stages of, or have yet to embark on, their next-gen internal audit journeys. The benchmarking survey polled 874 executives in Q1 2021, including CAEs and audit managers and directors across industries globally. Highlights from the findings include: 66 percent of survey respondents report plans to increase their focus on innovation and...

As Well As Reducing Budgets, The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Heightened Organizational Risks and the Need for Audit Oversight Stamford, CT (March 24, 2021) – A September 2020 study of 299 internal audit organizations showed that the function faced both declining budgets and a significantly expanded workload in 2020, according to Gartner, Inc. “For many heads of audit, it’s not clear where the extra capacity is going to come from,” said Margaret Moore Porter, Managing Vice President in the Gartner Audit...

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) today issued a new whitepaper to help auditors providing SOC for Service Organization (SOC) reports on organizations that have incorporated blockchain into their service delivery systems. The paper examines the skills and competencies auditors need to perform such engagements, the unique features of blockchain, the risks associated with using blockchain, and how the use of blockchain by service organizations may affect their SOC examinations. Highlights include: An overview of blockchain, including a discussion of the different...

Global consulting firm Protiviti recently released the findings from its latest study, “IT Audit Perspectives: Top Technology Risks in 2021,” which reveals that concerns around security, privacy, cloud and other advanced technologies are being further fueled by the pandemic-induced remote work environment and accelerated deployment of new technologies. The study, conducted in partnership with ISACA, surveyed over 7,400 IT audit leaders across a wide range of industries worldwide. The report identifies the top 10 IT Audit risks for 2021 and examines how digital leaders weigh...

Banks have long outsourced certain audits, but banking-fintech relationships are new ground. Brandi Reynolds discusses a persistent problem in bank internal audit departments and offers a path forward. Co-sourcing or outsourcing certain internal audits is nothing new to bank internal audit departments. In the 1980s, IT/MIS (management information systems) functions started growing in sophistication, and all but the largest banks outsourced their IT audits. In the early 2000s, Bank Secrecy Act functions also grew in sophistication and outgrew the capabilities...

As COVID-19 rages on, companies continue to go digital. Riskonnect CEO Jim Wetekamp offers guidance on how to conduct successful audits in a remote work environment. As the COVID-19 pandemic magnifies existing threats and constantly creates new risks for organizations to assess, business leaders are seeking added assurance that appropriate oversight, capabilities and controls are in place – and they are looking to internal audit for help. With remote work and travel restrictions limiting mobility in many parts of the...

COVID-19 has revealed the importance of having an effective business continuity plan. Protiviti’s Matthew Watson discusses the role internal audit should play in escalating and prioritizing business continuity audits given the realities and uncertainties in today’s business environment. With so many uncertainties as we head into 2021 – the wait for an effective COVID-19 vaccine, macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns, increased technology outages and cybersecurity risks to name a few – business continuity programs have taken on new urgency. Business leaders,...

Auditors need a complete understanding of the standard and how it affects their clients’ financial statements. AICPA’s Deana Thorps suggests four considerations auditors need to keep in mind when performing high-quality audits based on common challenges with accounting estimates. One of the most significant changes to U.S. GAAP is FASB’s revenue recognition standard, FASB ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. The standard requires an entity to apply a five-step approach, including estimating the revenue recognized for the accounting...