The IIA has defined our ‘purpose’ this way:
Internal auditing strengthens the organization’s ability to create, protect, and sustain value by providing the board and management with independent, risk-based, and objective assurance, advice, insight, and foresight.
There’s a lot in that sentence (and improvements could be made using words like “proactive”, “valuable”, and “forward-looking”).
But there’s a role for internal audit that many successful CAEs play, even if it’s not clear from that purpose statement.
That role is helping the board and its committees be effective.
We report to the audit committee and I always saw my purpose including doing what I could to help them in their governance and oversight role.
For example, I did the following:
- I drafted the audit committee charter and suggested changes when appropriate.
- Facilitated the development of the audit committee’s meeting agenda. (At one company I also helped with the board’s IT committee agenda.)
I maintained a schedule of what from the board’s charter needed to be covered when and made sure it was included in that meeting’s agenda.
I drafted the agenda and discussed it with the chair and the CFO before the chair gave final approval.
- I worked with the external auditor to ensure their materials were presented to the…
