KnowledgeLeader Blog

The point of the article, of course, was that people must focus their attention in the correct places when considering what would most influence their quality of life. That same exact issue exists within organizations where the board and management must ensure that they build and sustain the long-term health of the company.

Topics: Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit, Audit Committee & Board, IT Infrastructure

The chief audit executive (CAE) and internal audit can play one or more of the following roles in conjunction with the implementation of enterprise risk management (ERM) in an organization.

Topics: Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit, Risk Assessment, Audit Planning, Strategic Risk

Written by Ann Butera, president of The Whole Person Project, Inc.

 

By definition, “influence” is the ability to get others to act on your suggestions without pulling rank. Influential people can garner support for their ideas and they understand that being persuasive requires more than technical expertise and simply having facts to support a perspective. They can communicate their message in as many ways as necessary to appeal to the diversity of their audience. Persuasive people leverage their relationships with others and the information they possess to get others to act on corrective action plans and implement suggestions for increased efficiency. 

Topics: Human Resources, Training & Development, Internal Audit, Change Management

Chief audit executives and audit teams may be comfortable with the fact that their approach to audit committee reporting has followed the same unwavering path for the past decade. But are they shortchanging themselves by not communicating results as clearly and engagingly as possible?

Topics: Internal Audit, Risk Assessment, Audit Committee & Board, Quality Assessment Review, Audit Reporting

Internal auditors have weighed the benefits of data analytics software since the earliest versions of the technology began to surface nearly two decades ago. The conversation has continued even as the tools have grown in sophistication and become more pervasive on Windows-based systems.

Topics: Internal Audit, Audit Planning, Audit Reporting, Data Analytics

In order to be a high-performing auditor, you must be able to deliver messages in a clear and compelling manner. From kickoff meetings and status reports to internal training sessions, executive committee reports and even ordinary staff meetings, auditors are often required to communicate with tact, diplomacy and conviction.

Topics: Human Resources, Training & Development, Internal Audit, Audit Committee & Board

The internal audit function’s position within a company is unique. It provides its principal stakeholders (audit committee members and management) valuable and objective assurance on governance, risk management and control processes, as well as consulting services to improve operations. With this critical responsibility to fulfill, implicit in executing those duties is internal audit’s continuous improvement to its own practices.

Topics: Internal Audit, Risk Assessment, Audit Committee & Board, Quality Assessment Review, Audit Planning

Everyone talks about the need for good risk management programs, but nobody seems to know how to audit them to ensure that they work. The people that bear responsibility for setting the parameters of an enterprise risk management (ERM) program is pretty clear: the board of directors and the C-level executives. They decide what the risks are, what level of risk they’re willing to tolerate and what risks they do not want to tolerate. They are responsible for monitoring and responding to ERM outputs and obtaining assurance that the organization’s risks are acceptably managed within the specified boundaries.

 

Topics: Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit, COSO, Risk Assessment, Audit Committee & Board, Governance, Risk & Compliance

Ongoing professional development is essential for today’s internal auditors, previously outlined in Protiviti’s 2013 Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey. The results of the survey provide plenty of food for thought on the importance internal auditors assign to professional development in the light of a rapidly changing environment with new challenges at every turn. At the same time, internal auditors are enjoying a broader range of career paths and becoming innovative thinkers to meet the needs and challenges of a changing environment.        

Topics: Internal Audit, IT Audit, Audit Committee & Board, Audit Planning

Over time, auditors have had the good fortune to go on audit assignments and client meetings throughout the U.S. and in many countries of the world. Some trips are spectacular, landing them in the midst of great cities like New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. Others, however, put some of them in danger zones amidst civil war and natural disaster. If you’re a well-heeled auditor, you’ll appreciate the stories and advice in this blog post. If you have ever dreamed of getting that plum auditing role that includes travel, take note: it isn’t always what you imagined it to be. This blog post will help you understand the pros and cons of the traveling auditor’s life.

Topics: Internal Audit, Cross Border & Non-US Issues, Project Management, Audit Planning