Visibility: how do we reach new people?
Visibility is an issue for internal audit. In some ways, the better the internal audit work, the less it is visible externally. Who knows what would have happened if internal audit had not helped put in place the right processes, or highlighted weaknesses at a crucial moment? How can you prove what never happened? The presence of internal audit cannot always prevent problems occurring, but proving the impact of its absence is harder, although not impossible.
Our recent letter to Ofwat, published in the Financial Times, highlighted the lack of internal audit teams in the worst-performing water companies. We can’t say that these firms wouldn’t have run into difficulties if they had had internal auditors, but we can say that they are not adequately governed without internal audit teams. Our work on energy companies that went bust showed that none of them had an internal audit function. There are some which didn’t have an internal audit function that are still solvent, but we can conclude that with an internal audit function companies seem less likely to end up in difficulties.
Repeated financial scandals led to regulations requiring financial services firms to have an internal audit function and we believe the same reasoning holds true for other critical infrastructure organisations. Internal audit adds real value, and we should say this loudly and clearly. We should also point out that, as an indicator of strong governance, it can help to build trust.
My vision for the profession is that internal auditors will be understood and respected for what they bring to the organisations they work for and to corporate governance more widely. This is why the institute continually campaigns, talks to government ministers, CEOs and audit committee chairs, contributes to consultations, writes public letters to regulators and shares these with media outlets and promotes our successes on social media and via numerous events. We need to be visible everywhere it matters.
However, while it’s easier to be visible than ever before – on social media, contributing to debates and on online news channels – it remains hard to gain recognition from those outside the corporate governance arena. Internal audit is complex and nuanced and its successes cannot always be shared or distilled into a headline-grabbing catchphrase.
It’s good to be mentioned positively by those in the know, but how can we also reach people who are not? These people are investors, students, potential future internal auditors, CEOs and audit committee chairs. Their opinion of internal audit matters now and will matter more in the future.
Courage is part of the new Global Standards and we all need to stand up and tell the world more loudly and frequently what internal audit does and why it matters. Confidence breeds confidence and we need to state confidently why an organisation with a professional, well-resourced internal audit team is better governed and stronger than one without.
Visibility comes from good communications. Internal auditors write reports, but can be less comfortable “selling” a headline without caveats or details. As a mathematician I sympathise. Yet I also know that the story of one of the greatest discoveries in maths, the solution of Fermat’s last theorem, was made into a best-selling book.
Most people who read it couldn’t understand the solution to this simple theorem – but they could appreciate the story around it. That’s what we need to be doing; making complex issues accessible and interesting.
There’s plenty to talk about. We are currently reviewing and combining our two Codes of Internal Audit Practice and are keen to hear your thoughts on the proposals in our consultation and at roundtable events. We are also surveying members working in local authorities to find out what challenges they are facing and what they need from us.
Next month, we host our annual awards event where we announce the winners of this year’s Audit & Risk Awards. This is always a fertile source of positive stories and publicity, so please make the most of it and share the stories of the winning teams as widely as possible.
Meanwhile, our plans for this year’s Internal Audit Conference are firming up with keynote speakers including Hannah Fry, the mathematician, best-selling author and presenter who excels at turning complex issues into entertaining topics that everyone can appreciate in her books and radio programmes. I’m sure there will be much that we can all learn from her.
For the rest of the year, the institute will continue to campaign and to support our members with technical guidance, research, training and events, while we also implement new technology to improve members’ access. All these reinforce the professionalism of internal audit practice, so help us to share this message and make the value you add in every sector more visible.
This article was published in May 2024.