Internal Audit

Businesses have learned over the past couple of years that the only constant is change — and if they haven’t, they’re probably falling behind. A new study by Protiviti reveals the extent to which even mission-critical functions like internal audit are ripe for innovation and transformation. The consulting firm’s 16th annual report on the state of internal audit reveals that internal audit teams in companies across the globe are keenly focused on innovation and transformation, with about two in three...

Over the course of your career as an internal auditor, you will eventually encounter a difficult auditee. In these instances, emotional intelligence can help diffuse any swollen egos. But if these difficulties occur with any frequency, you may want to audit your own body language and behavior.  We’ve all encountered difficult auditees at one point in our career. Whether they were stubborn, angry, apathetic or withdrawn, many of us have seen it all. Oftentimes, emotions overrule logic. This is especially...

A new survey of decision-makers across Europe has revealed that the need to rethink tools and processes is a key priority for audit and compliance leaders. Research by Sinequa, an enterprise search engine platform, reveals that 85 percent of compliance and audit workers in large organizations in Europe consider access to information to be difficult or fair — at best. Increasing regulations, accelerating digitalization and broader use of artificial intelligence tools have put new pressure on compliance, legal and audit...

A majority of companies are beginning to feel the long-term impacts of COVID, many of which are here to stay. This week, AuditBoard, the innovative cloud-based platform transforming how enterprises manage risk, released the results of a survey of Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) that reveals how COVID is impacting operations and the profession at large. The survey uncovered five key trends respondents believe will have lasting impact on IA teams, including: 91 percent of survey respondents believe the use of...

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...

Is the compliance profession stressful? We suspect the answer to the question is ‘yes.’ But we don’t know for sure or to what extent. That's why we're launching a survey.

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...