Blog: Five Red Flags Your Internal Audit Department Is Losing Stakeholder Support

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:

Early in my career, I took for granted that internal auditing existed simply because it was necessary. Very rarely did anyone use terms like customers or stakeholders. I don’t remember ever hearing those terms during my first decade in the business.

I knew that regulations of the U.S. Army, where I worked at the time, required that every activity have an internal audit function, so I assumed we were there simply because we had to be. Resources were plentiful, and no one was really scrutinizing the value that we delivered, which isn’t surprising. People generally don’t begin to question the value of something until it becomes difficult to pay for it. However, all that changed when Army budgets started being reduced. Stakeholders who weren’t happy with internal audit were not reluctant to signal their displeasure.

Stakeholder support is vital to internal auditing’s ability to add value and contribute to the organizations we serve. When chief audit executives and their staff are not meeting stakeholder expectations, there are typically signs or early indications that the support we might have enjoyed in the past is starting to slip.

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