Author: Emily Shaw

Five Best Practices for Creating Better Internal Audit Reports

An internal audit report can determine whether critical risks are addressed quickly or buried in a backlog of competing priorities. They shape how stakeholders perceive the internal audit function and influence the decisions and remediations that follow an audit. When internal audit reports are clear, well-structured, and actionable, they turn Read More

Internal Audit common sense

Some Common-Sense Ideas on How Internal Audit Can Add Value

GUEST BLOG POST If you ask ten professionals to define internal audit, most will reach for the comfort of theory: frameworks, standards, or compliance checklists. Yet, when stripped down to its essence, internal audit is nothing more than the disciplined use of common sense to guide organizations toward better decisions. Read More

data governance tops list of internal audit concerns

Report: 80 Percent of CAEs Want to Increase the Use of Data Analytics

There is widespread frustration with the impact of data analytics in internal audit functions with 80 percent of chief audit executives (CAEs) wanting to see improved outcomes, according to Gartner, a business and technology insights company. Gartner conducted a survey of 107 CAEs in March 2025 revealing that using data Read More

Assessing Internal audit culture

Report: The Biggest Productivity Challenge is Unmanaged Culture

While nearly all governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) professionals recognize the importance of organizational culture, it remains virtually unmanaged. That is according to a new report from AuditBoard, an AI-powered global platform for audit, risk, and compliance. While culture is the lens through which every risk, decision, and behavior is Read More

Using a heat risk map

Geopolitical Uncertainty Driving Business Risk in U.K. and Europe

As governments around the world respond to growing geopolitical, social, and macroeconomic uncertainty, chief audit executives are warning that global policy changes are having a profound and negative impact on the risk landscape facing their businesses. New research from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, based on a survey of Read More

Numbers representing the use of Benford's law

10 Statistical Tests Internal Audit Teams Should Be Using in Data Analytics

In today’s increasingly data-driven business environment, internal audit teams are expected to go beyond traditional sample-based testing and embrace advanced analytics. By applying statistical tests, auditors can validate controls, detect anomalies, and provide deeper insights into organizational risk. Here are 10 statistical tests internal audit teams can incorporate into their Read More

Internal Audit 2035: Charting the Future of a Rapidly Changing Profession

For decades, internal auditors have quietly upheld the resilience of organizations, helping them navigate risk, compliance, and control. But a decade from now, that quiet assurance will no longer be enough. By 2035, internal auditors are expected to stand as strategic contributors to the success of organizations by shifting from Read More

Independent boards and oversight of internal audit

Ineffective Boards and Internal Audit Independence

GUEST BLOG POST For several years following the start of the COVID pandemic, the Institute of Internal Auditors’ “North American Pulse of Internal Audit” reported that internal audit department budgets were dropping. While the 2024 survey reported improving internal audit budgets, the 2025 survey once again raised concerns that internal Read More

Lease accounting

FASB Issues Credit Losses Standard for AR and Contract Assets

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU) that improves guidance on the measurement of credit losses for accounts receivable and contract assets. The new guidance, which is optional, addresses challenges faced by stakeholders when applying Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses, to current accounts receivable Read More

Control Without Culture Is Just Compliance Theater

GUEST BLOG POST In many organizations compliance is treated like a seasonal performance, where everything is polished just in time for the audit. Controls are executed, evidence is gathered, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed to the letter, but only because someone is watching. Once the audit concludes, attention fades, Read More