Years back, internal audit sat among the less desirable roles for upwardly mobile financial professionals. Some even considered it the dumping ground of finance, where under-performers were shelved while more promising young hires were put into what they perceived as more exciting positions. Post Enron, of course, the situation changed when internal audit was positioned outside of finance in the organization and chief audit executives started reporting either to the CEO or to the board’s audit chair. Not only was internal audit rising in prominence and importance in the organization, young professionals started to see the job as a way to learn the business and make connections with senior leaders throughout the company.
As part of our work as internal auditors in Belgium, we interact with lots of young professionals. Lately, many of them have been explaining to us that they want more control over their careers and to have more decision-making opportunities. They typically ask for assignments that allow them to discover new horizons, strengthen and reveal their best skills, and find the right career fit. We tell them that they need to draw on their abilities and passions to be able to connect the dots in a complex and global world.
We also suggest that they explore the possibility of working in internal audit. The role is full of opportunities to expand, learn the business, become better decision makers, hone communication skills, and become well-rounded professionals. Perhaps you are considering becoming an internal auditor or are looking for some material to convince someone to join your internal audit team. Here are five of the top reasons talented, young professionals choose to make a career of internal audit, as well as what they will gain from the pursuit.
Reason 1: You’ll Gain a Full Understanding How the Business Works
An internal audit cycle typically starts with completing a risk assessment and then an audit plan. Drafting such a plan, with the scope and the coverage of all the internal audits of the year, is a demanding exercise in coping with the constant flow of emerging risks that impact every facet of the business. An audit plan goes well beyond finance, of course, to include operations, strategy, marketing, and IT, as well as other areas of the business. Internal auditors need to grasp cybersecurity and data protection and many other IT concepts.
The challenge of processing and gaining an understanding of so many varied aspects of the company is significant, but so is the learning potential.
When you work as an internal auditor, you will be exposed to a diversity of problems that teach you how a company really works and what makes it tick. You’ll learn to apply frameworks and map organizations, you will need to quickly make connections across sectors, cultures, and functions, and you will gain experience in assessing the dynamics of priorities and obstacles that affect a company’s performance.
Reason 2: You’ll Improve Your Analytic Abilities
How often do we hear that internal audit teams are looking for more analytics skills. The success of an internal audit relies heavily on the availability and thorough analysis of data, not only the gathering of the relevant documents and materials in the planning and scoping phase of the audit, but also the interpretation of operational and process data. Knowing where to find the data and seeing the potential for what it can tell you is a big part of internal audit and will serve all professionals well in roles outside of internal audit.
In the quest for information in all aspects of an audit assignment, you will be able to develop and use the latest technology in analytics and develop a data-centric approach to problem solving. Data mining and big data solutions are increasingly becoming part of the internal audit toolbox, because they create transparency in operations and increase the level of assurance in any assignments by moving from sampling to full population analysis. Thus, you can provide better assurance to management and the board.
Gaining exposure to those technologies and working to navigate large streams of data will help you build analytics muscle.
Reason 3: You’ll Gain Leadership Skills
During your internal audit career, it’s likely that at some point you will experience resistance from management to accept your audit findings, or even outright hostility. In some cases, they may even disturb your audit fieldwork by providing piecemeal information or by being uncooperative as you gather documentation. You will have to deal with managers who disregard audit findings or push back on them because they do not like to be told what to do or refuse to take responsibility for problems in their departments. Some will consider auditors to be outsiders to their daily operations and will say they don’t understand how their functions or processes really work. Most people do not like to be under scrutiny and that’s understandable.
While these experiences can be unpleasant, your success will depend on your ability to create an environment in which managers are open to your recommendations and ideas and become receptive to acting on the audit findings. You will learn how to deal with ambiguity, how to influence others, and how to stay calm and handle objections without damaging long-term collaboration. These are critical skills to becoming a leader, a business partner, or an agent of change in a world of permanent transformation.
Reason 4: You’ll Become a Great Communicator
Highly effective communicators are good at asking questions, and then listening with both their eyes and their ears, as well as reading between the lines of what is being said. Internal auditors gain many opportunities to hone their communications skills. Indeed, success as an internal auditor depends on it. You will conduct interviews, perform walkthroughs, site tours, and interact with a large variety of people in many different positions both senior and junior. Asking good questions and understanding and interpreting what you hear, will be paramount and good internal auditors will develop these skills in spades, including reading between the lines, reading body language, interpreting what is not being said, and other communication necessities. Internal audit is all about communication.
But it’s not just about being a better listener. You still need to get your message across. Finding success in communicating those messages is all about storytelling. Reality is complex, but stories help to give a comprehensive form. You will need to think about your message: who is the hero in the story, what’s the goal, which obstacles are there to overcome, and what’s the moral of the story? You will need to adapt the story to your audience, use the right tone and perspective, and make sure you do not lose the attention of the intended audience. If you master those skills, you can easily interact and communicate with everyone in the business ecosystem: executives, customers, clients, co-workers, vendors, and others.
Reason 5: You’ll Learn to Be a Better Learner
A huge advantage to working in internal audit is that every day is different. You gain exposure to so many different areas and processes that you are forced to keep learning new things. This will make you a better learner in general. Audit forces people to acquire all the sets of skills and abilities they need. Internal auditors need to be quick studies and gain knowledge on a wide spectrum of topics. They also need to keep their proficiency up to date at all times. In order to stay effective, they need to stay in tune with industry standards and best practices in both financial and operational areas.
Good auditors are by definition relentless and avid learners. But acquiring knowledge is just the beginning. What you really need to master, is how to manage and apply that knowledge. In a digital world of constant change, you cannot afford to stand still. What you really need to do, is learn to keep on learning.
As Warren Buffet once said, “investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you.” Learning does not end when school ends: broaden your mind, evolve your thinking, and stay sharp. After all, complacency means extinction.
While there are certainly many other benefits to becoming an internal auditor, these are some of the big things that have been drawing talented individuals to the profession for decades. It’s hard to imagine a business discipline that could be more rewarding. 
Jean-Marie Bequevort is Expert Practice Leader Internal Audit at TriFinance. Alexander Van Caeneghem is Business Unit Leader CFO Services at TriFinance. TriFinance is a consulting company with offices in Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Germany.
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Brilliant article! In internal audit profession one really gets to see all aspects of the business, and it offers numerous opportunities to meet and build relationships with all levels of staff including senior management. It requires people with analytical, critical thinking, and communication skills, and further hones these skills. Internal auditors not only need to know how to check actions that already have occurred, they have to provide forward-looking insight and action, and are seen as trusted advisors.
Great post. Audit is learning, understanding, communicating, driving change. Great leadership development pipeline.
Great and point on article. I was in government performance auditing at three levels of govt over 34 years. The audit work is exciting and different on most assignments. I led audit offices and focused audits on things that made a difference to the public being served. It is a fantastic profession to grow in because there is nothing monotonous about the work. Finding ways to improve business or govt programs is highly rewarding. Than you for a well written article.
Very important message for internal auditors. The 5 issues are very important for internal auditors right from understanding how the business operates, performing analysis both qualitative and quantitative, gaining leadership skills, communicating audit results and more importantly continuous professional development. I like the article and members should take it seriously.
Very important message for internal auditors. Let us embrace it.
Valuable direction for a new Beginner like me.
Good article for internal auditors as well as young people who want to join the profession.
Very insightful article well articulated and written on the uniqueness of this profession which often gets hidden or lost in the watchdog or bloodhound debate…this is the very essence of this profession if done properly can be very value adding to the business and the professionals.performing this activity.
Great work co congratulations!
A great article and really does define the main key skills and knowledge you gain from being in the Internal Audit Profession. The role has evolved and I think we also need to adapt to some of the technologies we could use during audit engagements and field work.