Internal Auditing Around the World, Volume 15: Next-gen Internal Audit – Are You Ready?

The digital era continues to bring wave after wave of disruptive change. Even companies that embrace the change can feel like they’re caught in powerful currents, unable to control their vessel properly or orient themselves in the right direction. They are under pressure not only to adapt to change, but also to invite it through transformation and drive it through innovation.

For companies that are working to become next-generation businesses, the churn of change must run deep inside their organisation and into their key functions and must be more than just a digital or transformation veneer. This includes internal audit. Meeting the expectation to transform, innovate and become more future-focused is not easy for a function that has long been tasked with looking backward, confirming that controls are in place and working and, if they’re not, assessing why and outlining a plan for remediation. 

This means rethinking how internal audit teams perform their work. How can they adopt more agile practises and engage the business earlier in the audit process? How can they become more data- and technology-enabled to deliver on their objective to provide effective risk management more efficiently, and even predictively, to the greatest extent possible? How can they shift from being a risk- and change-averse function to becoming a center for innovation in the company, helping the business itself to transform? Answering those questions requires balancing new internal audit models with the right technology, resources and methodologies, as well as governance and infrastructure, to create value.