How do you feel when you hear the words “internal audit”? For many people, the answer is a sense of anxiety and perhaps even a muttered “uh oh.” As a group of museum internal auditors, we’re used to confronting this reaction from our colleagues. But we find that once they really understand what we do, and move beyond what our titles may suggest, they learn to welcome our arrival. In fact, some internal auditors are pursuing a change in title for this reason.
In writing this article, we hope to help you see that there is more to the role and the value we bring to our organizations than meets the eye. By the end, we hope you will see all the ways our work can make your life as a museum professional significantly easier, not harder. For those we manage to convince, we include some advice on how you can find and engage a qualified internal auditor.
What Internal Auditors Do
The mission of internal audit is “to enhance and protect organizational value by providing risk-based and objective assurance, advice, and insight” per the Institute of Internal Auditors, an internationally recognized…
