As The IIA’s president and CEO, I address many audiences about the internal audit profession. When I have the opportunity to speak to members of boardrooms and C-suites, I try to convey to them the value of having their internal audit functions conform to The IIA’s International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing.
Indeed, affirming conformance to the Standards through a periodic External Quality Assessment, often referred to as a Quality Assurance Review (QAR), signals to stakeholders that an internal audit function operates at a high level of ethical and professional competencies. A properly executed QAR should be a trusted measure of a function’s conformance to the International Professional Practices Framework, and it should be one that identifies opportunities for improvement.…