GUEST BLOG
May is International Internal Audit Awareness Month. Each year, the internal audit community supports efforts to spread the word about the great work that internal auditors do at their companies, public entities, and organizations. The aim is to promote the profession, dispel misconceptions, and remind everyone of the essential role internal audit plays in governance, internal control, and risk management.
Internal auditors do not always enjoy the same recognition of their value as other professionals. The profession suffers from a branding problem and does not always come across as the most glamorous career. Many internal audit articles and blogs focus on how the function must improve its image, change its name, or make sexier reports. I wrote a couple of years ago an article outlining what I think are the benefits of starting a career in Internal Audit. It ranges from gaining a broad understanding on how the business works to acquiring the necessary soft skills to become a successful manager.
The content of the article remains as valid as ever. In my opinion, the biggest misconception resides in the perceived scope and clerical nature of the function. Many potential recruits, colleagues, and friends continue to perceive the discipline as repetitive, bureaucratic, and a professional dead-end. I think it’s the exact opposite. A huge advantage to working in internal audit is that each assignment is different. You gain exposure to so many different areas and processes that you are forced to keep learning new things. New risks and technologies emerge all the time, creating a need for constant professional development. This is especially true for those providing services to several clients in different industries.
To truly promote the profession, however, we need to go beyond individual career opportunities and professional branding. We should insist on the contribution internal audit makes to the well-being of companies, public entities, and the economic system. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised doubts among many white-collar professionals about the essential nature of their work. After fifteen months spent hunched over our computers and enduring back-to-back conference calls, many of us wonder: “Is it worth it?”
My message to the sceptics and those in doubt: Internal audit is worth it. Why? Because sound risk management, control, and governance processes are essential to preserve trust. And trust is a critical element for the sound functioning of governments, businesses, and, more broadly for society. Without a secure and reliable economic system, a multitude of factors would make society a nasty place and business impossible to conduct. Investors would not rely on financial statements to evaluate companies and allocate money to projects. Citizens would not rely on public institutions to act on their best interests. Most employees would not feel safe at work.
The latest CEO survey from PwC finds that “building trust” is a top-three priority for 2021 with a focus on adopting new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure standards. If I reflect on the scope of our work, internal auditors contribute to the preservation of trust. We challenge organizations to reduce opportunities for fraud and corruption, improve controls over financial reporting, promote good conduct by employees and third parties, comply with regulations, maintain a safe workplace, avoid sourcing materials in conflict-ridden regions, guarantee data privacy and information security, and more.
Eroding Trust
Yet, trust is not a given. A look back at a series of business scandals in recent years (Wirecard, Luckin Coffee, Volkswagen, and several others) shows that we have a lot of work to do as internal auditors to help CEOs and CFOs build and maintain trust. The latest Trust Barometer report from global public relations firm Edelman outlines a year-on-year decline in how much we trust businesses to do what is right. About 56 percent of survey respondents worry that business leaders are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know to be false or gross exaggerations.
The May Internal Audit Awareness Month campaign, championed by the Institute of Internal Auditors and others, encourages auditors to shout it out and support the rise of the trusted advisor. Every internal auditor should be proud that providing and maintaining trust is the at core of what we do. 
Jean-Marie Bequevort is Expert Practice Leader Internal Audit at TriFinance, a consulting company with offices in Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Germany.