Internal auditors pressured to upgrade skill set

But 8% of them have no defined competency plan at all.

According to Ernst & Young, nearly one-fifth of the global survey respondents indicated that they would like to see improvements to internal audit reporting by putting issues into perspective relevant to the risk and identifying trends. Thematic audits are one way of doing this and are making resurgence as stakeholders increasingly want to know the implications, magnitudes and insights that audit findings convey.

As the role of the internal auditor evolves and stakeholder expectations rise, internal audit functions increasingly require competencies that exceed the more traditional technical skills, such as the ability to team with management and business units on relevant business issues.

When asked which areas of the respondent’s internal audit function had defined competency plans for staff development, 58% of them indicated a plan for technical internal audit skills, 54% have a plan for business or industry acumen and only 47% have a plan for business management and leadership. Surprisingly, 8% indicated no defined competency plan at all.

Two main approaches that internal audit functions can take to attract the right capabilities include an auditor rotation program across business units or functions in other parts of the organization and a guest auditor program for high-performing employees from other parts of the business to gain internal audit experience.

Sing Hwee concludes: “With the right strategy in place, internal audit can add value to the business by becoming strategic advisors, identifying efficiencies across the organization, supporting key business initiatives and quantifying the return on investment for internal audit. The future of internal audit is not on the horizon. It’s here and internal audit functions need to act now to remain relevant to the business, or be left behind.”