Since launching my website in 2021, I have been extremely gratified at the response by internal auditors and others around the world. A main feature of Audit Beacon is my blog, which I have been doing regularly for almost 15 years now. This year, I was wowed to learn that the blog had been read more than 200,000 times since January!  

It always fascinates me to see how the most popular posts are those that connect the dots between the concerns and priorities of readers and, by extension, the internal audit profession. This year was no exception.

Readers gravitated toward subjects that helped them navigate complex stakeholder relationships, sustain and enhance the stature of their internal audit functions, forge their own career strategies, and future-proof their ability to serve their organization.

With those themes in mind, here are my top blog posts for 2023:

• 6 Things Audit Committee Members Often Won’t Say to Internal Audit. Savvy internal auditors have always recognized the importance of the audit committee in the hierarchy of stakeholders. So, it came as no surprise that this was the most widely read blog of the year. As I noted in the posts introduction, “The relationship between the audit committee and the CAE is often complicated by personal dynamics and the awkwardness that comes with ‘constructive feedback.’ As a result, they often leave it to management to deliver the news, and the translation isn’t always pure.” If you missed the blog, I encourage you to check it out. It’s never too late to learn what you may not be hearing.
• 6 Ways a Career in Internal Audit Prepared Me to Be a CEO. My second-most-read post focused on the skills that ambitious internal auditors need to progress into leadership roles outside of internal audit – including even the CEO position. I shared my experiences as a CEO, and the ways I believe more than 30 years in internal audit prepared me for success.
• Did Banking Regulators Just Throw Internal Audit Under the Bus? One of the leading stories this year in the financial services industry was the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States. Shortly after the bank was shuttered, the U.S. Federal Reserve released a trove of documents related to its supervision and regulation. In my blog, I raised a number of questions about the regulator’s motives for releasing documents critical of the bank’s internal audit function, and I questioned whether internal audit had been thrown under the bus.
• ​​​Good Internal Auditors Ain’t Cheap and Cheap Internal Auditors Ain’t (Always) Good. I can’t recall another blog post where I intentionally used bad grammar in the title. I also can’t recall many that were as popular. My message was simple: Organizations get what they pay for when it comes to internal audit. In an era when internal audit talent shortages have never been more severe and inflation is driving up salaries, the blog’s message struck a chord among beleaguered professionals.
• It’s Internal Audit Awareness Month: Let’s Start at Home. I used the annual awareness month in May to deliver a simple point: Internal auditors can’t rely on others to advocate for them – at all, and especially not for only one month of the year. I strongly urged readers to regularly demonstrate and advocate for their value to key stakeholders. The better that others understand internal audit’s capabilities, the more likely they are to leverage the function in their oversight roles and in creating value for the organization.  
• 6 Tips for Internal Auditors When Delivering “Bad News.” I learned a long time ago that, when it comes to my blog, internal auditors love advice by way of actionable lists. And the profession is always in search of strategies for communicating difficult news. As I noted in this post, delivering bad news isn’t easy. And, even if internal auditors do everything right, it won’t always go well. But delivering findings and insight with empathy and understanding can go a long way toward ensuring that problems are addressed appropriately and that you are building effective working relationships.
• What Does ChatGPT Really Think About Internal Audit? History will remember 2023 as the year when artificial intelligence proliferated at warp speed. Nothing was more illustrative of the trend than the breathtaking rate of adoption of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT. In June, I published a simulated interview with ChatGPT on what it knows/thinks about internal audit. I even asked ChatGPT whether AI could ultimately replace internal audit. Check out the blog to see the answer.
• Surprise! Proposed IIA Standards Will Mandate Internal Audit Ratings on Findings and Reports. One of the hottest topics of the year for the internal audit profession remains sweeping reforms of professional standards being proposed by The IIA. I was cautious during the exposure period not to use my platform to critique the proposals or to influence those who were offering responses/comments. But I couldn’t resist raising awareness about what I thought could be a surprise for those who might not be paying close attention.  
• 5 Questions to Ask When Interviewing for a Job in Internal Audit. I have interviewed and brought countless individuals into internal audit during my career. But often, I have been surprised at the lack of preparedness when I concluded an interview with the question, “Do you have any questions for me?” This blog post obviously struck a chord with those who struggle with what to say during that pivotal interview moment.
• 7 Common Mistakes That Will Doom an Internal Audit. Here was another post with an actionable list of mistakes to avoid that generated a lot of interest. As I mentioned then, internal audits that underachieve are often the product of the same few missteps. Blog topics like this one – intended to help internal auditors live up to their incredible potential and, in turn, facilitate successful internal audits – clearly are timeless.

Those are the blog posts that resonated the most with you, my readers, in 2023. I hope you benefited from and enjoyed reading them as much as I did putting them together.

It is ever-present in my mind that the job of modern internal auditors is complex, challenging, sometimes dangerous, and too often undervalued. This is why I try to make sure every one of my blog posts contains useful information for internal auditors in the field. These top posts, based on their large readership, reflect an eagerness by those who seek to expand their knowledge of the profession and to improve their service to their organizations. That gives me great comfort about the profession and its future.

As always, I look forward to your comments via email to blogs@richardchambers.com or “X” (formerly known as Twitter).