SPRING 2012

ADDING VALUE TO YOUR INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRAM continued from page 38
Some organizations that choose to implement a
checklist as their report find that the internal auditor only
includes an indication of yes or no for compliance. With
no additional information, the organization does not have
an opportunity to make improvements where
observations could be made or identify best practices when
the internal auditor identifies noteworthy accomplishments.
4. The right employees are not being assigned as
internal auditors. Instead of choosing the best employees
to conduct internal audits based on their competence,
some organizations use the position as fill-in work or as
a reassignment when the employee is not performing.
Organizations that make these types of assignments may
find that the internal auditor does not have the right
personality to conduct audits. This situation can also
cause adversarial relationship during the conduct of audit.
In order to develop an internal program that
management and employees see as contributing to the
business, it is important to identify those things that are
within are control and make change. In today’s
environment where organizations continue to be
conservative on managing costs, there might be limited
budget available to provide training or increase the
number of auditors. However, there are some things
that an organization can do without increasing the cost
of their internal audit program.
Develop a plan on improving value. Without a plan, it
is unknown what needs to change, thereby minimizing
your opportunity to improve value. Don’t assume you
know what management and other internal auditor
customers need within the organization. Conduct a
brainstorming meeting and determine the expectations
from management and then add these expectations to
your plan. Once an approach to meeting expectations is
developed, it is important to follow through with
management to ensure enough time is available to conduct
internal audits. Expectations can be set, but without the
necessary resources, improvements cannot be made.
Organizations that experience tough economical
times will reduce their internal audit program either by
reducing the number of internal auditors or the number
of audits conducted. They might also choose not to
provide training on an ongoing basis to ensure that
auditors have the right skills to provide audits. It is
important to emphasize to the management team that
internal audits become an important tool used to ensure
compliance with programs are being changed,
employees are changing positions, and procedures are
being modified. Instead of cutting internal audits, they
should actually be increasing them. Internal audits that
are conducted during these critical times provide a tool
to ensure compliance. The cost of an internal audit is
minimal compared to the cost of a program change that
does not meet customer expectations.
please turn to page 190