Category: Research Digest

Auditing organizational culture

Four-Fifths of Companies Neglect to Audit Corporate Culture

According to a new report, internal audit leaders say that organizational culture is among the biggest contributors to wrongdoing at their entities, as well as the biggest defense to keeping it from happening. It also finds, however, that companies are still not making it a priority to assess the organizational Read More

Auditing whistleblower hotlines

Report: Nearly 40 Percent of Companies Don’t Audit Whistleblower Hotlines

A new benchmark report closely examines what is and isn’t working with whistleblower hotline programs, especially as they concern fraud detection. Among the most troubling findings: 25 percent of organizations still don’t have a whistleblower program and among those that do, only 39 percent bother to audit them. The report, Read More

Introverted internal audit leaders

Introverted vs. Extroverted Internal Audit Leaders: Which One Are You?

A few weeks ago, I met with a self-described “introverted” business leader. This business leader confided to me that introverted individuals have a harder time climbing the corporate ladder. The individual went further in claiming that recent research shows that it is worst for women, as introverted women are seen Read More

Internal Audit skills

Survey: Internal Audit Struggling to Attract Top Talent

The internal audit profession faces stiff competition for talent, especially talent capable of addressing a broadening array of risks and well-versed in emerging technologies that can drive the function into the future, according to a recent survey. Protiviti’s 2023 Next-Generation Internal Audit Survey found that 43 percent of chief audit Read More

Top Risks of 2023

Top Risks Companies Face in 2023 and Beyond

In the wake of a global pandemic, organizations are working to assess potential risks with a renewed urgency, given the disruption and severity that COVID-19 inflicted on businesses and society in general over the past few years. One of those organizations, the World Economic Forum, released its Global Risks Report Read More

setting audit priorities

What companies are putting on their 2023 internal audit plans.
Internal Audit ‘Hot Spots’ for 2023

The past year concentrated attention and shone a spotlight on the increasing fragility of organizations. With a complex set of risks manifesting simultaneously, audit committees are prioritizing some of the most serious implications resulting from the ongoing war in Europe and a triple squeeze of supply chain, workforce and inflation Read More

Is Internal Audit Being Stretched Too Thin?

Internal audit leaders may feel like their departments are being stretched thin these days—well, even thinner than usual. New research suggest that internal audit budgets have been cut at many companies, even as the function is facing an expanded workload. The pandemic has exposed new and heightened risks that need Read More

Digitization and internla controls

Report Finds Digital Transformation Putting a Strain on Internal Controls

A new study finds that rapid transformation to the digital economy is putting a strain on control systems within organizations. The speed and intensity of changes, brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid shifts in the economy, have disrupted staffing and increased the adoption of advanced technology, which has impacted Read More

Digitization and internla controls

Study: Risk Management Programs Not Keeping Pace with Digital Risks

A new report finds that despite the growth of digital risks, many risk management programs are not maturing quickly enough to keep pace. The study, 2022 Digital Risk Maturity Survey, conducted by AuditBoard—which provides audit, risk, and compliance management platforms—finds that while more than 90 percent of respondents have digital Read More