A high-quality internal audit function can have a huge influence on a business. “Actually, we have a dual role to play,” David Jardine, senior vice president, internal audit at BP plc noted recently. “We’re a custodian of value for shareholders and we’re here to hold management to account. We help businesses better understand how well their risks are being managed. Given the level of risk and uncertainty in the current business environment, there has never been a more important time to have a high-quality internal audit function.”
Internal auditors work to a Code developed following the banking crisis. “In 2010 the CIIA developed the forerunner to the new Code to help the internal audit functions of banks and financial institutions raise their standards,” he adds. “One of the lessons learned from the financial turmoil was that the audit function needed to be at the right level in the organization to have the right quality of resource.”
