Over the past decade, I have often discussed the strategic risks facing the internal audit profession. That includes several warnings I offered back in 2014:
- Credibility of the profession would be diminished by too many “where were the internal auditor” moments.
- Key stakeholder perceptions of the profession would decline as we rely too heavily on assurance to the exclusion of insight and foresight.
- Noncompliance with standards would negatively impact the quality of our work.
- Blurring lines of defense would afford management the opportunity to rely on other monitoring and oversight functions in lieu of internal audit.
- The profession would struggle to recruit and retain talent to address technology risks.
In 2022, I posed this question on LinkedIn: What are the most critical strategic risks facing the profession in the decade ahead? Although it was an impromptu poll with only four options, I was amazed that more than 1,000 people responded.