Blog: ​U.S. Navy Wants to Throw 70% of Its Internal Auditors Overboard

In his blog, IIA President and CEO Richard Chambers, CIA, QIAL, CGAP, CCSA, CRMA, shares his personal reflections and insights on the internal audit profession. Here’s an excerpt from his latest post:

The courageous men and women who risk their lives for our national defense also face dangers from volatile risks, such as cyberattacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, citizens and taxpayers rightly expect efficiency and effectiveness in defense operations. So why would the U.S. Navy make plans to slash its internal audit budget by 70% over the next two years?

The proposed cuts to the Naval Audit Service budget would effectively dismantle the agency, leaving it with 85 employees compared with its current staff of 290. By comparison, the U.S. Army and Air Force audit agencies execute their missions with more than 600 staff members each. Not only would such a move by the Navy devastate critical assurance services, it would severely weaken oversight of a massive organization, whose budget was nearly $206 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2020.

Read the full InternalAuditor.org blog post from IIA President and CEO Richard Chambers.