In many ways, the core solutions for operating successfully and growing profitability amid a heightened regulatory and risk management environment include a strong internal audit function. For these reasons, today’s internal auditors are being relied upon increasingly to help guide their organizations to compliance in this new regulatory landscape while ensuring key operations perform at peak efficiency.
At the same time, this landscape, together with an evolving global economy, is creating new challenges for internal auditors to understand and build expertise in new skills and competencies so that they can influence the improvement of risk management, control and governance processes. Protiviti’s annual Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey (now in its fifth year) assesses the capabilities of internal auditors in areas of priority for today’s organizations along with competencies that are most in need of improvement. This year’s participants, including chief audit executives along with internal audit directors, managers and staff, answered more than 100 questions in three standard categories in the study: General Technical Knowledge, Audit Process Knowledge, and Personal Skills and Capabilities.
In addition, our 2011 study includes a new section: Risk Management and Governance Process Knowledge. We sought to obtain data from survey participants regarding their knowledge and competencies in this subject area (given the growth in demand for risk management and governance related skills over the past year) and the impact this demand is having on internal audit functions.
Here are some of the notable takeaways from this year’s Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey:
- Play a leadership role – Help the organization evolve its risk management program and internal audit’s role in it.
- Support the C-suite and board agenda – Work with board members and executive management to focus on strategic risks, strategic assumptions and risk appetite.
- Be prepared for continuous and ongoing change – New laws, regulations and standards (e.g., IFRS, Dodd-Frank Act) continue to alter the landscape.
- Use technology effectively – Improve coverage, reduce costs, increase frequency and enhance effectiveness.
- Internal auditing is still about people – Attract, develop and transfer out the best.
- Add value – As noted in The IIA’s definition of internal auditing, it is what internal auditors are supposed to do.
Respondents in our 2011 survey represent virtually all industry sectors including more than 600 internal audit executives and professionals. The largest segment is from financial services; others include healthcare, energy, utilities, manufacturing, distribution, technology, biotechnology, hospitality, consumer products, retail and telecommunications. Nearly half of the participants are with publicly traded companies while the others from private, government, educational and nonprofit organizations. Close to one in three respondents are from companies with annual revenues of US$1 billion to $5 billion while the rest split relatively evenly among larger and smaller organizations.
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