If you’re interested in contributing an article to Internal Audit 360° and/or Journal of Internal Audit, thanks for your interest! The success of our independent website relies on the sharing of ideas and practices by experts in the internal audit arena like you. We are particularly interested in articles from internal audit practitioners, but also accept contributions from consultants, advisers, professors, and others in the internal audit community. Please read over the following guidelines to streamline the process and improve your submissions.
Submissions should be aimed at answering questions that internal auditors have or that detail an internal audit practice that can improve our readers’ own work as internal auditors. Ideally, the article will provide actionable takeaways that readers can immediately put to work at their own organizations.
Why should I write for Internal Audit 360°?
• Authors will receive great professional exposure that may lead to new opportunities.
• Published articles help position contributors as thought leaders in the internal audit community.
• Internal Audit 360° will bring your ideas and insight to thousands of internal auditors bringing you influence and help you make new professional contacts.
• Your articles will be edited by exceptional editors that will make your work shine and help convey your ideas in a clear and organized manner.
The audience
Our audience includes members of the internal audit community, including internal audit executives at all levels, service providers, and others who are interested in how companies provide assurance over processes and functions and how they manage risk.
How do I write a great Internal Audit 360° article?
- Keep the audience in mind: Try to address the challenges that internal auditors face. But remember, it’s not just about highlighting a problem, it’s about providing a solution to the problem in a clear way through your writing. Consider trends, leading practices, and innovative ideas in internal audit.
- Hone your message: Do your best to keep your article on point, where the challenge you are addressing, questions and answers, and advice is as clear as it can be for readers.
- Be prescriptive: It’s not about motivating readers to take action, it’s about providing an explanation on how to take that action! Focus as much or more on the “how” as on the “why.”
- Make it personal: Tell a story. Don’t be afraid to make it a bit personal and share some of your own experiences. Just be careful not to be too self-promotional or sales oriented.
- Use examples: The best articles provide illustrative examples and walk the reader, step by step, through how something was accomplished.
- Include links: Be sure to attribute your work, and be sure to show a little love to any sources you may have tapped into by providing our readers with links to the work – but make sure they work!
- Avoid buzzwords: Do your best to stay away from any industry jargon and legalese. Use plain, straightforward language.
- Don’t be self-promotional: If you happen to work for a vendor or service provider in the space, avoid promoting any tools or companies within your article. There will be a bio located in the article that should do the trick.
- Fact-check: Check your facts, cite your sources. (but please do not use footnotes! Use a link or cite the source directly in the text.)
What topics should I cover?
Internal Audit 360° is open to submission on all topics that pertain to internal auditors. Here are some of the specific areas that are appealing to our audience:
• Conducting better risk assessments
• Managing your internal audit team
• Automating internal audit processes
• Innovating internal audit
• Communicating to the audit committee & board
• Conducting culture and ethics audits
• Data analytics
• Financial Reporting & Sarbanes-Oxley
• Fraud
• IT audits and information security
• Regulation & compliance
• Risk management
• Training & development
How do I submit?
All article drafts should be submitted in a Word doc or Google doc format to contribute@internalaudit360.com with the following as the subject: “contributor submission.” It’s a good idea to discuss your idea with a IA 360° editor to ensure the plan is solid before you put the work in, especially if you are planning a submission to our coming digital quarterly, journal of internal audit.
Length: The ideal length of an Internal Audit 360° article is between 700 and 1800 words. Both shorter and longer articles may be accepted, but that is the guideline.
Tone: Internal Audit 360° favors a conversational writing tone. Don’t use industry jargon or legal sounding language. Straight forward language is always better. Feel fry to add personality to your writing, to be playful, and to use humor.
Bio: Remember to include a bio of 100 words or less. Include your title and organization and the name of any relevant books you have authored or other prominent aspects of your professional career.
Headshot: We’d love for our audience to put a face to a name, so send us a headshot image that we can include with the author profile located on the article page.
Editing: Articles may, at times, be heavily edited by the editor. No articles will be published without the express permission of the author and only after both the author and the editor agree to all edits.
Compensation: Internal Audit 360° is currently unable to provide compensation for contributed articles, but we do promise to promote it to our community vigorously and to promote it on our several social media channels. Freelancers interested in obtaining assignments from IA 360° should contact Joseph McCafferty at Jmccafferty@internalaudit360.com. But please note that our use of freelance material is very limited at this time.
Usage Rights
Contributed articles should be exclusive to IA 360° and should not have appeared in any other publication or website unless agreed to by the editor. Contributed articles, once published, will become fully owned by Internal Audit 360° and it’s parent company Risk360° Media Inc. Usage on your own blog, your company’s website, and other places can only be done with permission from the publisher. (Which we are usually happy to grant after a certain period.) Contributions may appear on the Internal Audit 360° website, the Journal of Internal Audit digital publication, or both.
Still have questions? Please Email the editor, Joseph McCafferty, at jmccafferty@internalaudit360.com