Blog: Internal Audit’s Role in Picking up the Pieces

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:

​I have written several blog posts on high-profile risk, control, and governance failures over the past few years, from Volkswagen to Toshiba to Wells Fargo. Some posts looked at lessons learned while others explored internal audit’s role or absence in those corporate stumbles.

Public scandal makes easy fodder for critics, and pundits have made an industry of commenting on failure. But I’d like to focus on the thoughts of one of the most quoted and inspirational leaders of the 20th century, Winston Churchill. The U.K. prime minister, celebrated as bold, brave, resolute, and tireless in his leadership during World War II, also had his share of political and military failures.

Throughout his storied political career, he learned that success and failure are intimately intertwined. The Churchill quote that best captures this is, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

With this as inspiration, let us explore how internal audit can contribute to an organization’s recovery from ignominious scandal or high-profile risk and control failures.

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