View from the institute: Priorities - listen, learn, engage

As I write this, barely a month after taking up the helm at the institute, my diary is filling up rapidly. I have been meeting my colleagues, attended my first Council catch-up meeting and met many members at the Wales Conference in January. I am grateful to those members who have already welcomed me into their offices so I can see them in action. I look forward to meeting more of you at events such as the Leaders’ Summit on 9 March, the A&R Awards in June and, of course, our Internal Audit Conference in October.

I am also embarking on a round of meetings with the people who regulate, influence and collaborate with the institute and our members, and will be important in the way the profession progresses in the future. The fact that senior officials at institutions such as the Bank of England, the FRC, ICAS and the ICAEW have been quick to arrange meetings with me is testimony to the respect accorded to the profession of internal audit and, as a consequence, to the Chartered IIA.

We live, as the saying goes, in interesting times and there has never been more need for the work our members do to equip organisations to face disruption and change with confidence and innovation.

This is why my priorities over the coming year will be to meet with, and listen to, our members, find new ways for the institute to engage with and support you, and further opportunities to ensure that your voice is heard at a national level. I want to build on the excellent work done by John Wood to put the institute in the best position to seize opportunities to promote the work our members do, and support them to develop the ways in which they enable boards to be resilient and even to benefit from disruption.

Hurdles ahead

There are clear hurdles ahead for governments, organisations and individuals – from inflation and strikes to global economic shifts, cybercrime and geopolitical conflict. All these are highlighted in our Risk in Focus 2023 report. What is clear is that we are likely to see further disruption before anyone gets back to “business as normal” (assuming there is such a thing any more).

It will also be interesting to watch political developments. Efforts to resolve post-Brexit trading arrangements with Northern Ireland and ongoing discussions with the EU will affect organisations in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland. Meanwhile in Westminster, recent questions about the financial integrity of politicians and accusations of bullying are a reminder of how problems within an organisation can deflect management time and attention as well as affecting morale, reputation and confidence.

Recognising value

Internal audit can’t necessarily prevent things from going wrong, but it can and should be asking questions; monitoring risks, culture and ethics; offering assurance; and helping management to be in a position to act quickly and effectively when problems occur. To succeed here, the work of the internal audit profession must be widely understood and valued. Part of this can be driven by the work that our members do to demonstrate their value within organisations, but part should also come from political and national recognition of your part in a strong corporate governance framework.

The government’s long-awaited draft bill on restoring trust in audit and corporate governance could lead to legislation this year, but we can’t afford to sit and wait while the world changes around us. We need to be promoting the ways in which internal audit can help organisations to deal with the real dangers that beset us this year, and we also need to make your role far more widely known.

As a former maths teacher, I am passionate about engaging with young people – the internal auditors of the future. How many people leave school or college with an ambition to become an internal auditor? Most members say they discovered the profession almost by accident. While young people may not leave school with a passion to become an internal auditor, we want them at least to know that there is such a job and to understand a little of what it entails. In addition, I want more people to become members because they understand the value of what we do and the support available for members of the Chartered IIA.

We also need to think about how we work best in a post-pandemic, disrupted workplace. People in all walks of life seem busier than ever. Now we use Zoom and Teams for so much of our work we can have ten meetings a day, but is that good for anyone? How do we clear time and space to think and do our work if we’re constantly connected and talking? I particularly worry about how young employees will gain important social and work skills if they don’t see how more experienced colleagues work and communicate. I know I learnt a lot from just watching and listening to colleagues in the office.

I believe that my past experiences as a teacher, working in financial services and heading up a membership organisation taught me many different skills that I know I will draw on constantly in my work at the Chartered IIA. There will be challenges, but I am an optimist and I intend to look for solutions, not problems. And I have great colleagues and members around me to provide guidance and support.

In my previous role heading up the Chartered Association of Business Schools, we had a mission to increase member engagement, which I think we succeeded in doing. As a result, we developed a phenomenally strong team and won three large government contracts for our members. We started small, but we were regularly called by the government to provide input and answer questions because we were trusted both for our opinions and for being able to get things done.

And getting things done is what really matters when it comes to reputation and recognition. I always need to believe that the organisation I work for does something that is valuable and makes the world a better place and that’s why I took on this role – to make a difference. There are many things that I want us to achieve in the years ahead and our focus has to be on how to support and represent our members. Ultimately, I want my successor to have the job I wouldn’t want to do – to have nothing left to achieve here and just keep things ticking over because all is good. 

This article was published in March 2023