January 2014

Numerous vocal internal audit leaders from around the world are promoting the idea of licensing practitioners as a way to enhance the profession’s stature and proficiency. They profess a licensing requirement would give internal auditors greater credibility and even influence. In fact, a few IIA institutes have even taken up the cause within their respective countries.

I say, be careful what you wish for.

I acknowledge that licensing might come with some benefits, such as creating the appearance of greater parity between internal auditors and their external audit counterparts, such as CPAs, chartered accountants, etc. It is also argued that licensing would enhance internal audit’s ability to deliver assurance that meets rigid standards and regulations that often accompany licensing requirements, thereby elevating the confidence of internal audit’s stakeholders, corporate shareholders, and others.…

As someone who has been a part of the internal audit profession for almost four decades, I have had the privilege of working with many outstanding leaders in our field. I’ve learned that the best are those who inspire others to lead. In this sense, I would say that a good leader is also a good follower.

When people think about leadership in internal audit, they often stop at the chief audit executive (CAE). But really high-performing internal audit departments are populated with a number of leaders, and successful CAEs are the ones who inspire leadership qualities in others.

Leading isn’t just about making decisions and moving the organization in a certain direction.…

Throughout my career, there have been times when I joined a new internal audit function and it quickly became apparent that the chief audit executive (CAE) operated in a very different way than what I was accustomed to. In some cases, the CAE had a different style or preference for communicating with clients. In other cases, the CAE was a stickler on technical issues such as how findings should be communicated, how working papers should be assembled, or which words to ban from audit reports. In most instances, I was simply able to adapt to the CAE’s preferred style or philosophy.…

The New Year affords a great opportunity to re-assess your life and identify a few resolutions that can help you break bad habits or enhance your quality of life. Over the years, one of the practices I have followed in writing my blog is to open the year by sharing five New Year’s resolutions that every internal auditor should make. As I noted last year, these are not the typical resolutions about losing weight or exercising more — although some of us could certainly benefit from such resolutions as well.

Instead, the resolutions that I propose are designed to enhance the quality of our performance as internal audit professionals.…