Why is internal audit important to your organization?
By reporting to executive management that important risks have been evaluated and highlighting where improvements are necessary, the internal auditor helps executive management and boards to demonstrate that they are managing the organization effectively on behalf of their stakeholders.
This is summarized in the mission statement of internal audit which says that internal audit’s role is to enhance and protect organizational value by providing risk-based and objective assurance, advice and insight. Hence, internal auditors, along with executive management, non-executive management and the external auditors are a critical part of the top level governance of any organization.
What do internal auditors do?
We have a professional duty to provide an unbiased and objective view. We must be independent from the operations we evaluate and report to the highest level in an organization: senior managers and governors.
Typically this is the board of directors or the board of trustees, the accounting officer or the audit committee.
Our members
Internal auditors have to be independent people who are willing to stand up and be counted. Their employers value them because they provide an independent, objective and constructive view. To do this, they need a remarkably varied mix of skills and knowledge. They might be advising the project team running a difficult change programme one day, or investigating a complex overseas fraud the next.
From very early on in their careers, they talk to executives at the very top of the organization about complex, strategic issues, which is one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of their role.
