Why does internal audit need to be agile?

You don’t have to go very far to hear an internal audit leader talk about agile. Richard Chambers, President and CEO of the IIA, shared this:

A lot is being said about the need for internal audit to be “agile.” My definition of agility is simple: “Internal audit’s ability to pivot swiftly to address emerging risks and changing stakeholder expectations.” It’s critical to our success!

Why does internal audit need to be agile?

We live in a world where business conditions are changing all the time and the pace of change is accelerating. That is universally accepted.

Internal audit needs to be able to respond to those changes promptly.

When new risks of significance to success are identified, internal audit needs to be able to update its plan and provide the assurance and insight that leaders need – when they need it, not when a static plan provides.

This is why Richard and I both talk about auditing at the speed of risk. I also talk about auditing at the speed of the business, which perhaps more clearly identifies that we need not only to be agile in our audit planning, to add and then perform the audit of a new area promptly, but also provide the assurance and insight that is needed…