Internal Audit

The era of exponential growth among mid-tier accounting firms is upon us, driven largely by the trend of top-tier firms pushing to expand their advisory/consulting businesses. To manage the number of audits that could trigger independence impairments across service lines, they have taken steps to shed the bottom 10% to 20% of their audit clients. Meanwhile, mid-tier firms suddenly find themselves the recipients of these new business opportunities — opportunities that must be managed carefully, writes Jey Purushotham of Intapp....

In decades past, independence (a flawed measure even in good times) was considered the gold standard of audit. But Strike Graph’s Justin Beals argues that it’s well past time to catch up with technology and instead rely on transparency as a marker for security audit. Security compliance is a necessity for doing business in today’s world. Buyers and investors demand it, and regulatory bodies require it. Despite the fast evolution of the cybersecurity landscape, companies are still largely using traditional...

Recent research shows internal audit functions are rarely involved in setting strategy for ESG or even in reviewing how goals are tracked and monitored. EY’s Kapish Vanvaria argues that ESG leaders should make friends with their internal audit colleagues — for everyone’s sake. Companies are wrestling with the most urgent and complex issues our world faces today — environmental, social and governance (ESG). Internal audit (IA), internal controls (IC) and risk management should be at the hub, navigating the evolving...

Recommendations from Deloitte's Center for Board Effectiveness on the role audit committee members should play in organizations. Requirements, Oversight Responsibilities & Effective Strategies Deloitte Audit Committee Guide What's in this guide for audit committee members by Deloitte's Center for Board Effectiveness:The unique challenges of today’s business landscape and unprecedented levels of risk are causing audit committees to approach oversight differently than before. From overseeing financial statements to ESG reporting, the increased pressure from regulators and investors has created a major...

Challenges facing UK public services are many — years of austerity budget cuts, the continued pandemic, cybercrime, climate change and more. Ensuring good governance in the public sector means, in part, supporting and understanding the role of internal audit. CIPFA’s Diana Melville explains why internal audit should be top of mind for all public organizations in the UK. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) recently published a major research report on internal audit in the UK public...

Public companies could face a series of indirect ramifications related to updated focus areas for the nonprofit board that oversees audits of these companies. Attorney Ron Kral explores the three areas of most interest for organizations. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in June released its planned focus areas for 2022 inspections of public company audits. While most of its targeted areas aren’t of special interest to those outside of accounting firms, a few of them will have indirect...

Sarbanes-Oxley turns 20 years old this summer. Jack Kristan of auditing firm Plante Moran wonders why many companies still haven’t modernized SOX compliance — and offers an object lesson in the power of technology-aided auditing. When I first entered the workforce two decades ago, it wasn’t uncommon for financial analysts to be asked to cut large checks needing to be mailed immediately, without much explanation about what they were for and why they were so urgent. That kind of money...

How is this for a grim scenario? As business becomes inexorably more technology-driven, audit and assurance teams need more sophisticated technology, but technology requires talent — and technology talent is growing ever more costly and scarce. Dire enough? There are no easy solutions, but as Leslee McKnight, Gartner’s senior director of research, lets us know: at least audit executives are aware of and working on the challenges. In Q3 2021, Gartner surveyed 166 audit leaders to identify their top challenges...

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...