Renewal and growth: Anne Kiem explains why spring is an ideal time to nurture personal, professional and organisational green shoots
Spring is a time of renewal and growth and this also applies to internal audit and the Chartered IIA. This year, the return of sunshine and longer daylight hours to the UK and Ireland brings a welcome shot of optimism in a period of great disruption and uncertainty in global politics and economics.
However, disruption, while challenging to navigate, also creates opportunities for internal auditors to display their strengths and support the businesses that need their skills. Optimism is vital to spotting these opportunities, so we need to channel the optimism of spring into our work, both in organisations and at the Chartered IIA.
And there are signs of growth and development that should be as cheering as spring sunlight in the northern hemisphere. The internal audit profession is growing and evolving to meet current and future challenges. We have new Global Internal Audit Standards and the first CIA exams under these will be examined from 28 May, focusing our attention on the skills the profession will need to take internal audit forward.
Campaigning for recognition
The Chartered IIA has also been seeking new opportunities from the bad news around struggling water companies to highlight the need for internal audit in all utility firms – it should be scandal in itself for a water company not to have an internal audit function. We recently responded to the consultation held by the Independent Water Commission saying: “We urge the Independent Water Commission to recommend, as part of its final report, proportionate and practical ways of setting a clear expectation that all regulated water companies should establish and maintain an independent internal audit function.”
Similarly, we have called again for the UK’s Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill to be brought forward in the Parliamentary timetable. On 14 April, we wrote a joint letter with ISACA to the Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, stressing the urgent need for audit reform legislation to boost digital resilience. This was particularly timely, given the cyber attacks on major retailers that have occurred since then.
In the letter, I wrote: “We have witnessed multiple corporate failures connected to audit and governance deficiencies since the collapse of Carillion, with some of these companies completely lacking any internal audit capability. To tackle this, the Government needs to publish the long-awaited Audit Reform Bill and bring forward proposals for larger companies to publish Audit and Assurance Policies and Resilience Statements. This will drive growth and foster responsible risk-taking, but also enhance digital resilience in an increasingly digital world.”
In other parts of government, we are campaigning for more legislative guidance to include formal recommendations for internal audit provision. A drive to remove onerous regulation and encourage organisations to grow should make strong internal audit provision more important – how else will management, investors, shareholders and other stakeholders know what is really happening across their organisations?
Raising professional standards
One element of being part of a global profession of internal auditors is that we share common high standards. The Chartered IIA’s Internal Audit Code of Practice builds on the new Global Standards to help internal audit teams across the UK and Ireland take the profession forward still further. We want businesses across the UK and Ireland to be confident that our members protect their reputations, their employees’ jobs and their long-term sustainability. ~
This confidence comes both from our members’ knowledge and expertise, but also from their ability to advise management and to support them so they can seize opportunities as they arise and be resilient despite economic uncertainty. We want management to know that our members do far more than help them avoid scandals. Growth and renewal stems from making informed business decisions and judgements about risk, not from merely avoiding wrongdoing.
Promoting the profession
This month is Internal Audit Month, so it is a perfect time to ask whether your organisation fully understands and appreciates what you can do for it. Promoting the profession benefits you and your own team, but more than that it supports your peers in organisations across the world. Every manager who makes a better decision, or boosts organisational efficiency, because of your advice should become an advocate for internal audit. This is worth shouting about – and it is worth asking those who benefit to amplify your shouts.
We are participating in a global LinkedIn campaign to explain simply and concisely what internal audit does and to invite readers to share this knowledge more widely with others. Communication is a core skill for internal auditors and we will all have to become better at explaining what we do and how we add value. Our campaign will help provide the “elevator pitch”, but we all should think about good PR for the profession and using empathy to explain how internal audit can meet management’s most pressing needs.
One critical area for all organisations is data, and internal audit has a huge opportunity to support organisational growth by helping managers collect verifiable data and understand what it means for them. No other professional group has the same overall view of the whole organisation or understands data trails and assurance like internal audit. Internal auditors and chief audit executives must therefore ensure they have the skills to advise management and help them use data effectively.
Celebrating best practice
Celebrating and communicating internal audit best practice and forward-looking internal audit leaders and teams is also vitally important – both within the profession and for communicating what good internal audit looks like to the broader business community.
Our annual Audit & Risk Awards celebrate the best in the profession. The full shortlist is now available on our website and this year’s event will once again take place at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel on 19 June. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet the award winners and network with everyone who was shortlisted (all of whom deserve congratulations for excellent work) and learn from their experiences. Tables are still available, so why not bring your team?
Learning and sharing
Other opportunities come from expanding your professional network. Regional conferences, such as this month’s Ireland Conference, along with our Internal Audit Conference on 8-9 October in London, are opportunities to make connections as well as to learn from each other and from other experts. Other opportunities for all kinds of learning and interaction with peers come from Chartered IIA communities and training courses.
The Chartered IIA has also been focusing on renewal and growth over the winter, with our new customer relationship management system and website. All our products, from training courses to apprenticeships and certifications, regional and national events, external quality assessment provision and forums can be found on the new site, more accessible and searchable than before. We have articles, guidance, reports and blogs available for members, and a special area for those subscribing to our exclusive Audit Leaders service.
New articles and blogs – from technical internal audit advice to Q&As, interviews with individuals and award-winning teams – are posted up constantly, so check out our content hub and see what’s new. And if you know people who don’t know about what can be found on our website, tell them about it and share the things you find useful with your team and network.
Spring is also time for membership renewals, so review everything that Chartered IIA membership can offer and make sure you make the most of all your personal opportunities for growth and development. Professional internal audit practice supports businesses, but being part of the profession is also about supporting each other to grow, develop and improve as professional internal auditors.