UNDERSTANDING AND WORKING WITH MANAGERS AND MANAGEMENT
but will primarily focus on organizational processes and operations. Many of
these operational areas will be discussed in greater detail in other chapters of
this book.
Internal auditors should regularly take an operational approach in their
audits and appraisals of management performance. For example, today they
often will be helping to complete the SOA internal controls assessment requirements,
called Section 404 and discussed in Chapter 6, “Evaluating Internal Controls:
Section 404 Assessments.” By doing this work, they will improve the
overall internal controls environment and will help to satisfy a corporate legal
requirement. However, line or operational management may not see much additional
value in these reports unless internal audit serves management through
appraisals of operations and suggestions for improvement when appropriate.
Managers of business operations will be more interested in such areas as:
• Suggestions to improve operations at all levels to help managers achieve
their objectives
• The manner in which the results of operations, including audit recalculations
of performance, are reported back to senior management levels
• The impact of overall organizational policies, instructions, and allocations
on the operation being reviewed
In many larger organizations where many employees have little direct contact
with senior management, internal auditors may be one of the few groups
with regular, face-to-face links with senior corporate management beyond periodic
financial performance reports or other high-level meetings. Managers at all
levels look to internal auditors to appraise their operations and to make constructive
suggestions. While it may sometimes be necessary, management is not
looking to an internal auditor to make a series of minor, nit-picking recommendations.
Internal audit has the high-level objective of serving management’s
needs through constructive operational auditing recommendations.
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