One metric stands out when it comes to assessing the performance of the CAE and his or her team: the satisfaction of their primary customer, the audit committee of the board. Second to that, and frankly not far apart in its effects on the longevity and mental health of the CAE, is the satisfaction of the CEO, CFO, and the rest of the executive team (but especially those two execs).
Having said that, there are other metrics that are very important.
ACI Learning has shared with us their suggestions in an article you can download.
Measuring the Performance of Internal Audit Departments: Standardize measurements and align business operations with balanced scorecards has some good points.
At the same time, I disagree with some and believe others are missed.
For example, the first metrics suggested are related to time:
- Audit announcement to when the final report is published (days)
- End of fieldwork to when the draft report is published (days)
- Publication of draft report to when the final report is published (days)
- Time variance Audit plan to actual (hours)
- Audit plan to actual (%)
As a CAE, I never measured any of these. I don’t think they are meaningful and may even lead practices in the wrong direction!
While some CAEs focus on publishing a report as soon as possible, my focus was on publishing the right, fair…
