View from the institute: Growth – building on strong foundations

Happy new year. It is hard to believe that I became CEO of the Chartered IIA a full year ago. The time has flown by and I have learnt so much about the profession and I have met many of our amazing members. It’s gratifying to see that we have achieved many of the things we set out to do, even if some of our progress so far has been inward-looking – a wide-ranging restructure and establishing the foundations for better IT capability and new website. These are the underpinnings of success that will enable everything we want to improve in future for our members. As I have said many times, and I hope it will be evident by what we do, our focus is our members. We exist because of, and for, our members.

In the past year, we (the Council, the staff team and I) have examined everything we do and asked how we can make it better and fit for the future. This inevitably means change, which can be uncomfortable. At the Scotland Conference last year, I saw an apt quote by Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM: “Growth and comfort do not co-exist”. However, change is also exciting and opens doors to new projects and opportunities.

One big change this year is the introduction of the Global Internal Audit Standards. These will inform and guide the direction of internal audit and the work that internal auditors do for many years to come. They are a key element of keeping the profession relevant and developing what our members offer to the organisations they work for. Following on from that, we are also revising our codes of practice.

Behind the scenes, and importantly for our future, we have put a lot of effort into our lobbying activities. The audit reform bill has not yet materialised, but it is still on the agenda and it is important that the internal audit profession has a voice that government and regulators are aware of and listen to. This has been developing over many years, but the opinion of the internal audit profession is now sought and really matters.

This benefits the reputation and status of the whole profession and is the main reason why I said last year that the institute needs to engage with – and listen to – all our members. Among other things, we are planning a membership survey to hear the views of all our members. We want all our members to engage with us and we want to attract more people to join us.

Excellent work done by professionally accredited internal auditors gives the institute a stronger voice at all levels. Collectively, we are much stronger than individually – and the stronger we are, the more people will hear about us and appreciate our value.

This is why the highlights of the past year for me personally have been the Internal Audit Conference, the Scotland Conference, the Wales Conference and the Ireland Conference. These were my chance to meet members from all four nations and beyond and learn what they think about the profession and the challenges it faces.

I have been particularly struck by the passion that internal auditors feel for their work. This is wonderful and not common in all sectors. When I attended IIA Global events, I was also delighted to discover how much respect the Chartered IIA enjoys internationally. We are one of the largest and most active institutes and the work done by our members in the UK and Ireland is highly regarded.

It is therefore good to see our relationship with the European institutes and with IIA Global growing and developing. We need to work together because we all want the same thing – a strong profession that is recognised for the value it adds.

So, as we start 2024, I would like first to thank the Council and staff and everyone else who has supported the Chartered IIA over the past year – as well as all those who have helped me personally to understand the profession and get a feel for what members do and what they want from us.

In the coming year, we will build on what we have already begun. There is work to do on the new Global Internal Audit Standards and we will continue our review of what we do and how we work. I am looking forward to this – especially since so much more will be possible once we have the IT to support us. This is critical. Not only will it transform the experience of members accessing our resources, but we will be able to devote more time to providing what members want.

I am also looking forward to this year’s conferences, beginning with the Wales Conference this month, and to the Audit & Risk Awards event in June. Nominations are open until 31 January, so there is still plenty of time to celebrate excellent performance and nominate an individual or a team. We also have two new technical reports on supply chain risk and ESG and many more in the pipeline to address the key risks members highlighted in our annual Risk in Focus research.

The year ahead will undoubtedly be challenging in many ways, but the stronger foundations we have built in 2023 have put us in a better position to seize opportunities and focus on growth. Engagement is an essential part of this. I hope to speak to many more members this year and want you to talk to us, tell us what you want and help us to develop and progress. We will listen.

This article was published in January 2024.