IIA Professional Practice Day Non-auditors in the audit
8th of November 2018
Survey – Definitions used
• Subject matter experts: an expert from another function or organisation, who is participating in one or more audits mainly for his/her knowledge of the subject of the audit;
• Guest auditor: an auditor with a career outside of the internal audit profession, temporarily joining the internal audit function (IAF) for a part of their time, in specific audits, for a specific period.
• Rotational auditor: an auditor with a previous career (partly) outside of the internal audit profession, joining an IAF for 1 – 5 years, with the intention of afterwards moving on to another part of the organization.
Subject Matter Experts
Survey – Use of Subject Matter Experts
Never used; 21%
Few times; 53%
Regular; 16%
Often; 10%
Use
Why?
• Expertise
When?
• Throughout the audit;
• In some phases;
• Assisting on recommendations
Survey – Satisfaction of Subject Matter Experts
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Guest Auditors
Survey – Guest Auditors
Never used; 40%
Few times; 47%
Regular; 13%
Use
Why?
• Multiple reasons;
• Good for both IAF as the business;
When?
• Throughout the audit;
• In some phases (scoping)
Survey – Satisfaction of Guest Auditors
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Rotational Auditors
Survey – Rotational Auditors
Never used; 79%
Few times; 14%
Always; 7%
Use
Why?
• Bringing business perspective
When?
• Throughout the audit;
Main challenges
Main challenges
(Audit) knowledge
‘Availability’
Time
‘Lack of understanding of processes’
‘[…] audit requirements’
‘Free-up time’
‘Agreement on time period’
‘Training’
‘Quality of work-papers’
Quality
‘Finding good candidates from the business’
Main success factors
Main success factors
Communication
‘clear communication with all involved’
Thinking outside the box
‘New set of eyes and ideas in the audit team’
‘Added value’
‘Involvement senior staff IAF’
Promoting the IAF
‘Acceptance of IAF in organisation’ ‘Business sense and awareness’
‘Adequate training’
