2023

December 26, 2023

A Dozen Who Made a Difference:

The 5^th Annual Internal Audit Beacon Awards

At the end of 2019, I recognized 10 men and women who had made extraordinary contributions to the internal audit profession through thought leadership and advocacy over the previous decade. The list proved so popular that I began recognizing top thought leaders/advocates annually. This year marks the 5^th time that I have compiled such a list.

I was once again amazed this year at the response to the call for nominations. More than 50 men and women were nominated from 18 countries around the world. As the inspiring nominations rolled in, I was reminded again of an awesome responsibility to evaluate each one with an objective assessment of their contributions.…

December 11, 2023

Here Comes 2024! What’s Keeping Internal Audit’s Stakeholders Awake?

Since the dawn of this decade, the world has been in a perpetual state of crisis. Whether COVID, geopolitical conflicts, macroeconomic events or other turmoil, risks are emerging, maturing and spawning devastating disruption before we even see them coming. This environment has been particularly challenging for risk managers and internal auditors, upon whose shoulders risk awareness and assurance often ride.

Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds when monitoring risks, we cannot simply throw up our hands in despair. Instead, we must constantly scan the horizon for clues about vulnerabilities that may be lurking.

Fortunately, each year, there are a handful of survey-based research reports that are highly anticipated for those of us who like to peer toward the risk horizon.…

November 26, 2023

Results-focused Internal Auditors Don’t Count the Findings

When I set out to write my book Trusted Advisors: Key Attributes of Outstanding Internal Auditors, I was determined to identify those skills and characteristics that separated good internal auditors from great ones. To ensure I wasn’t overly influenced by my own biases, I surveyed more than 200 chief audit executives from around the world. They spoke loud and clear about the skills they believe it takes to excel in our profession and to win and sustain trust from those we serve.

At the top of the list were attributes we would expect: ethical resilience, dynamic communicators, critical thinkers, relationship builders and business acumen.…

November 13, 2023

Small Audit Departments Face the Biggest Challenges

When I first became a CAE more than 30 years ago, I inherited an internal audit department with very limited resources, especially considering the size of the enterprise. With five internal auditors plus myself, we were challenged to provide high-quality internal audit coverage for a $10 billion entity. I knew I had my work cut out for me, and we wouldn’t get more resources unless we demonstrated greater value than the department had in the past.

From that first assignment as a CAE, I would go on to lead internal audit teams of more than 1,000. Yet, the reality is that most internal audit departments today are closer in size to the first one I led.…

November 2, 2023

Call for Nominations: 5th Annual Internal Audit Beacon Awards

Professions thrive through advocacy and diversity of thought. The internal audit profession is no different. For the past four years, I have recognized men and women who are making an impact on behalf of internal audit around the world.

I am pleased to announce the 5th annual recognition through my website AuditBeacon.com. Next month AuditBeacon.com will acknowledge global internal thought leaders who have made a significant contribution to advancing the internal audit profession around the world in 2023. Individuals will be recognized for contributions through publishing, video and audio media; speaking; and advocating the value of internal auditing around the world.…

October 30, 2023

Introducing the AI-designed Internal Auditor

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the past year has been breathtaking. Adoption of generative AI tools alone has exceeded the pace of any technology in human history. As is often observed, AI presents both risks and opportunities for the world – including for our profession: internal auditing.

In June, I published a simulated interview with ChatGPT to illustrate just how powerful and insightful such tools can be. In response to a question I posed about whether AI could replace internal audit, ChatGPT observed:

“AI has the potential to automate certain tasks performed by internal auditors, but it is unlikely to completely replace them.…

October 24, 2023

There’s Remarkable Global Consistency on Internal Auditors’ Risk Radar

In a recent blog, I shared insights on the newly published PwC Global Internal Audit Study 2023: Seeing Through Walls to Find New Horizons. In the introduction, I noted that more global insights on the internal audit profession were on the way. Thanks to the Internal Audit Foundation and IIA regional affiliates around the world, we now have the most comprehensive global snapshot of internal audit trends since 2015!

For years, the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) has been highlighting “hot topics for internal auditors” in its annual “Risk in Focus Report.” I have written often about the valuable insights generated by the ECIIA.…

October 16, 2023

Phil Tarling Lived His Life in Color

Over the past few days, internal auditors around the world have been mourning the sudden loss of Phil Tarling, one of the profession’s most widely known leaders. Phil was a professional colleague and a close personal friend of mine for more than 20 years. As I reflect on his passing, I am reminded of an article I wrote 10 years ago: Do You Live Your Life in Color? As I shared then:

We have all encountered individuals in our professional lives who are living their lives in black and white. While I am sure they love their families and enjoy their personal lives, in their professional lives, they are literally and figuratively just punching the clock.…

October 4, 2023

4 Reasons They Still Cringe When the Internal Auditors are Coming

I recently attended a large internal audit conference in Europe where attendees were anxious (as always) to discuss their daily dilemmas and seek my perspectives. Not surprisingly, one of the first conversations I had involved internal audit’s lack of popularity in one of the attendee’s companies. She lamented that internal auditors are not very welcome – regardless of the audit they undertake. To paraphrase her words, “they cringe whenever they hear we are coming!”

I sympathized with her plight, and immediately recalled that I have addressed this topic before in a blog titled What Do They Think When the Internal Auditors are Coming?…

The 5th Annual Internal Audit Beacon Awards

The 5^th Annual Internal Audit Beacon Awards