Richard Chambers Blog March 28, 2021
On Feb. 10, 2009, I wrote my first blog, ”Chief Audit Executives Beware: We Are Entering One of Those Eras Again!” My message then is as relevant today: Chief audit executives (CAEs) must be continuously attuned to the risks their organizations face and to their stakeholders’ expectations for internal audit. I concluded that inaugural blog with a list of ”10 signs that potential trouble may be brewing for the CAE:”
- You are executing an annual audit plan developed from a risk assessment conducted six months ago, and no new audits have been added in the past two months.
- You increasingly find yourself arguing with stakeholders about why internal auditing should not be addressing specific new or emerging risks.
- The audit committee is surfacing more new risks to you than you are to it.
- Audit committee members are citing best practices they have observed in other companies with increasing frequency.
- Your CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), or audit committee chair is citing internal audit thought leadership that you have not heard about.
- You are getting a lot of pressure from your stakeholders to undergo an external quality assessment. An external quality assessment is a great idea and mandated by The IIA’s International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing — but it should be your idea and not theirs.
- Your budget/staffing is being reduced, and you are not even being asked about the impact.
- You find yourself on the audit committee agenda with less and less frequency.
- You are getting fewer and fewer phone calls and emails from key stakeholders.
- You discover that one of your peers in the CFO organization has just joined The IIA.