The past year has been one of great turmoil with the global financial markets on the brink of collapse and organizations worldwide struggling amid a worldwide recession, regardless of industry. Among the many effects of this crisis, management and boards of directors are looking more closely than ever at risk, finance, governance and operations to ensure that all proper controls are in place and functioning properly. Management is also ensuring that their IT systems and data are secure, and that they are leveraging working capital to the greatest extent possible. In this environment, internal auditors are playing a critically important role in monitoring organization-wide systems, processes and controls, as their companies today cannot afford even the slightest breakdowns, losses or inefficiencies.
It is in this environment that Protiviti conducted its third Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey. More than 700 participants, including chief audit executives along with internal audit directors, managers and staff, answered more than 100 questions in three categories: General Technical Knowledge, Audit Process Knowledge, and Personal Skills and Capabilities. Their responses underscore the areas of priorities for companies today along with internal audit competency in need of the most improvement.
This year, along with reviewing the results of our latest survey, we also chart and comment on some of the more interesting trends that have emerged since 2006, when we first conducted this survey. Each section of the report includes a three-year summary comparing the top seven areas for improvement since Protiviti released the results of its first Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey in 2006. We also review three-year trends among the responses of chief audit executives.
As in previous surveys, participants in this year’s study represent virtually all industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, real estate, energy, utilities, manufacturing and distribution, healthcare, technology, biotechnology, hospitality, retail and telecommunications, among many others. Nearly half are with publicly traded companies, and the others from private, government, educational and nonprofit organizations. Respondents were split relatively evenly in representing large, midsized and small organizations, with the largest group of participants coming from companies with annual revenues of US$1-4 billion.
Now that we have conducted this survey three times over the past four years, it is interesting to note the activities and competencies that have emerged as consistent high priorities for chief audit executives and internal audit professionals: Enterprise Risk Management; Fraud monitoring, Detection and Prevention; Continuous Auditing and Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques; Developing Relationships with Other Board Committee Relationships. Clearly, these competencies are tied to organizational priorities for greater transparency in enterprise-wide operations and processes as well as clear and consistent views of key objectives and strategies by boards and their internal audit functions.
Download the entire report:
(26 pages, 4.6 MB)
IA Skills Assessment Poll