Internal auditing today involves a broad spectrum of types of operational
and financial activity and levels of coverage. In organizations today, internal
auditing has moved beyond being a staff activity roughly tied to the controller’s
organization, although internal audit’s role is constantly being redefined. SOA
has been a major driver of change for internal auditors. While they once only
had a nominal reporting relationship to the audit committee of the board, SOA
has strengthened and formalized that reporting relationship. However, in some
other organizations, internal audit continues to function at just a routine compliance
level. In other situations, internal audit still suffers from being integrated
too closely with regular accounting activities and limits virtually all of its audit
work to strictly financial areas. These are all exceptions that do not reflect the
potential capabilities of the modern internal audit organization. They may also
reflect the lack of progressive attitudes in the overall organization.
Today, modern internal auditors have expanded their activities to all operational
areas of the organization and have established themselves as valued and
respected parts of the senior management effort. With renewed emphasis from
SOA, the modern internal auditor today is formally and actively serving the
board of director’s audit committee. While internal audit organizations once had
an almost nonexistent, dotted line reporting relationship to their audit committee—
with little direct communication—the chief audit executive (CAE) today
has direct and active level of communication with that same audit committee.
This overall situation reflects major progress in the scope of internal audit’s coverage
and level of service to all areas of the organization. The internal auditing
profession itself, through its own self development and dedication, has contributed
to this progress and has set the stage for a continuing upward trend.
No comments:
Post a Comment