The Institute of Internal Auditors’ work on issuing a new version of its professional practice standards cleared an important hurdle this week, paving the way for their release in early January.
The IIA’s committee in charge of the project, the International Internal Audit Standards Board (IIASB), voted to approve the final draft of what will now be known as the Global Internal Audit Standards, according to a statement released last week.
The final Standards are now scheduled for release in English on January 9, with translations into other languages to follow in the coming months. An enhanced ePublication featuring enriched user options and a print edition are in development as well. The Standards will become effective in January 2025, 12 months after their release.
The approval of the final Standards comes after a six-month review of the results of a public comment process and subsequent revision of the exposed draft Standards. The IIASB analyzed and duly considered nearly 19,000 specific comments from 1,600 completed surveys, plus feedback received through letters from and meetings with stakeholders. The IIA and IIASB will release a disposition report in January, summarizing the themes of feedback and the IIASB’s decisions as reflected in the final version.
Supporting Documents and Webinars
In addition to the final Standards and disposition report, The IIA will provide practitioners with a document mapping the 2017 International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing and the 2024 Global Internal Audit Standards.
The IIA will host a webinar on January 24 to help internal audit practitioners and stakeholders become familiar with the new Standards and their impact on the internal audit profession. Attendees will hear directly from IIASB representatives about the structure and content of the final Standards and learn about the primary changes. The same webinar will be broadcast three times, with a live Q&A session at the end of each, to accommodate attendees in various time zones globally.
The release of the new Standards is a major milestone in the IPPF Evolution, a project that kicked off in 2020 with the goal of increasing the relevance and responsiveness of The IIA’s International Professional Practices Framework to current challenges in the profession. An extensive research and outreach effort has engaged thousands of internal audit practitioners and stakeholders from across the globe in one of the largest undertakings in The IIA’s history.
The IPPF Evolution continues in 2024 with the development of Topical Requirements, which must be applied when assessing specific audit topics or engagements that are designated within an organization’s audit plan. Updated IIA products and services—including the Quality Assessment Manual and external quality assessments, instructor-led and on-demand trainings, and certifications—are scheduled for release throughout 2024-2026. 