I have long been fascinated by the dynamics between internal audit and the audit committees to whom it reports. Let me say right up front that I believe the vast majority of audit committees are diligent in their oversight. However, as I first shared in a blog in 2015, there are too many instances where audit committees are populated with members who aren’t as conscientious as they should be in their oversight roles.
In Extraordinary Circumstances, Cynthia Cooper’s riveting account of internal audit’s role in unraveling the financial reporting fraud at WorldCom, she recounts the challenges she had in securing an audience with the company’s audit committee so that she could share the internal audit results.…