For many internal auditors, the audit committee is a bit of an enigma. Most of us help the chief audit executive (CAE) or other internal audit leader with materials and content to provide to this subgroup of the board of directors. Much of our work, in summary fashion, ends up Read More
In today’s lightning-fast business environment, the ability to effectively manage risks on the fly is crucial for the long-term success and sustainability of any company. Traditionally, companies have relied on conducting periodic risk assessments, often on an annual or semi-annual basis. With the dynamic nature of risks in today’s business Read More
Imagine this scenario: Your organization is hit with a sophisticated ransomware attack. The team reluctantly agrees to pay the ransom (in bitcoin, of course) and your data-recovery efforts spring into action to get the organization back up and running. But to everyone’s horror, much of the data is missing and Read More
In India, the internal audit function has come a long way since its inception and has undergone significant development in recent years. In the past, internal audit in India was mostly confined to compliance-based activities and was often viewed as a cost center. With the increasing complexity of business operations Read More
We’ve all heard it: “I want this issue to be resolved even more than you do,” a senior member of management told me during a phone conversation following-up on an open audit finding. I was relieved, believing that the higher-ups had finally understood the gravity of not taking action on Read More
According to history, our cave-dwelling predecessors, the Neanderthals, went extinct for a reason–they couldn’t adapt to their changing environment. Maybe they wanted to, but they couldn’t and unfortunately, they didn’t. Eventually, they were replaced by us humans, of course, who were better able to adapt to changing weather, hunting patterns, Read More
Let’s face it. Internal audit still suffers from some rather negative stereotypes. There are plenty of companies or units where internal auditors are not welcomed with open arms. Audit clients may view internal audit with suspicion, expecting a “gotcha” mentality or may feel like they are under surveillance. Sure, it’s Read More
There is a common joke among physicists that fusion energy is 30 years away … and always will be. You could say something similar about artificial intelligence (AI) and robots taking all our jobs. The risks of AI and robotics have been expressed vividly in science fiction by the likes Read More
While auditors spend a great deal of time and energy scrutinizing processes, analyzing procedures and transactions, and identifying control weaknesses, the real value we add to organizations resides in our audit recommendations. Management expects auditors to leverage our business knowledge and ability to perform root cause analysis to suggest process Read More
As internal auditors, we all have a “spidey sense” of what we should be auditing. Sure, we should, of course, conduct comprehensive risk assessments that drive our audit plan, and many of the usual suspects will end up on that plan: cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, financial reporting, third-party relationships, and you Read More
