TIAPS ALB_Module 2B. Managing People

communication, numeracy, IT, relationships, integrity, and professional behavior. Core
competencies are focused on an area of expertise or profession at a general level while
technical competencies are specific to roles and tasks. Such frameworks have multiple uses
for managers.
• Drafting job descriptions.
• Defining criteria for promotion.
• Conducting a training needs analysis.
• Setting targets for professional development.
• Evaluating performance and conducting appraisals.
A distinction is often made between soft skills and technical skills (or competencies).
• “Soft skills” is used to refer to refer to those that involve direct and indirect interaction
with other people, including communication, building and managing relationships,
resolving conflicts, political nous, and emotional intelligence. Soft skills can also
include the dimension of competencies that involves attitudes, behaviors, mindsets,
values, and emotions. In many ways, soft skills can be harder to develop than
technical skills because dealing with others requires the ability to anticipate and be
sensitive to their attitudes, behaviors, mindsets, values, and emotions. However, soft
skills are undoubtedly essential for internal auditors and audit managers.
• Technical skills relate to the specific requirements of internal auditing, including
engagement planning, root cause analysis, report writing, and adherence to
professional standards.
Creating a competency framework for a profession inevitably results in a generalized model
with some arbitrariness in the requirements defined. Professional practices and
requirements vary considerably around the world and it is impossible to capture that in a
single framework. Therefore, it is necessary for managers to add the specific national,
organizational, and departmental requirements to any framework adopted.
The IIA Competency Framework organizes competencies in four groups:
• Professionalism: competencies required to demonstrate the authority, credibility, and
ethical conduct essential for a valuable internal audit activity.
• Performance: competencies required to plan and perform internal audit engagements
in conformance with the Standards.
• Environment: competencies required to identify and address the risks specific to the
industry and environment in which the organization operates.
• Leadership and communication: competencies required to provide strategic direction,
communicate effectively, maintain relationships, and manage internal audit personnel
and processes. 25
To obtain skills and expertise needed for delivering engagements not currently available from
the existing team, managers have a choice: develop or procure, as described in section
2B.2. The table shows how the elements of competencies may be acquired, demonstrated,
and assessed.
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Internal Audit Competency Framework, The IIA, 2022.
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