CEO Blog: Why our charter matters
Our latest strategy refresh prompted me to reflect on the significance of our Royal Charter and its imperative for us to act in the public interest, writes Anne Kiem, CEO of the Chartered IIA.
Professional internal audit has never been more important – to safeguard our businesses and give them a strong base from which to seize opportunities and grow. Ensuring that internal auditors are well trained, accredited, and work to common high ethical standards is a foundational purpose of the Chartered IIA. This is why, when we came to refresh our strategy recently, I found myself thinking more about our Royal Charter.
What is a Royal Charter and why is it important? And what does it oblige us to do? Royal Charters date back to the 13th century and originally were awarded by the sovereign to a town or city. Today, they are generally awarded to bodies that work in the public interest and “can demonstrate pre-eminence, stability and permanence in their particular field”.
Having a Royal Charter did not change our strategy, but it is a key reference point. The work our members do is clearly in the public interest. We will not have sustainable growth and accountable, resilient businesses without strong governance and a responsible, informed approach to risks. All these things support a strong economy, which benefits all of society, when it is done in a sustainable and honourable manner. However, to demonstrate also that the Chartered IIA’s work is in the public interest and that we are pre-eminent in our field and stable, we need to ensure that our work adds to internal audit’s professionalism and supports you to do your work better and more effectively.
Next steps
Our strategy has not changed radically – we have already achieved many objectives over the past couple of years, including selling one office and renting new premises, modernising our branding and migrating to a new CRM system and website. However, we have taken the opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved and looked to see where we can build on these achievements. Now many of the foundations are in place, we can look further ahead and be more ambitious for the future.
The next steps therefore are all about progression and opportunities. We have tweaked the four structural pillars of our strategy, so we are now focused explicitly on advocating on behalf of our members, developing our members, supporting our members and being resilient for the benefit of our members. This doesn’t sound hugely different, but it is about evolution, not revolution. The words make it clearer that we are a membership organisation and our members are at the heart of what we do.
One key purpose is to raise the profile of professional internal audit and increase understanding of the value of a well-resourced internal audit function among policy makers, regulators and the general public. Better understanding will not only make it easier for you to gain the resources you require, but will also make it easier for you to do your jobs and attract new people to join the profession.
A social purpose
Council asked me how our strategy benefits society. This seemed obvious, but it made me think about why we need to be better at articulating it. We need to tell people that if we have a strong, well-educated internal audit profession, the organisations they work for, manage and invest in will be better run, better able to manage risks and thereby better for society generally. They will be able to take advantage of opportunities to grow and become more productive and, therefore, be more resilient employers and benefit the economy in general, which relies on individuals having the confidence to spend their money.
We – the Chartered IIA – need to be better at articulating this. But we need you to do it too. We should all be communicating this message, because it is valuable to organisations and society and it benefits everyone involved in the internal audit profession. At the Chartered IIA we do this through our advocacy – for example, in our recent open letter urging MPs and regulators to push for an expectation that all companies operating pension schemes should have internal audit provision.
We also do it through events, such as the recent Audit & Risk Awards in June. This highlighted the outstanding work that many internal auditors and their teams are doing and the real effects this work has on their businesses. For those who couldn’t be there, we will be publishing interviews with all the award winners in our content hub over the coming year. Their success should inspire and inform, but it also gives us something to publicise and real case studies demonstrating internal audit best practice, innovation and impact.
Our annual Internal Audit Conference in October is another opportunity to spark top-level debates about the most important issues facing internal audit today. It’s a fantastic networking opportunity for people to share stories and learn from each other, but is also a chance to take a step back and think about emerging issues and how internal audit can achieve greater impact. All this is vital to working in the public interest and being a professional.
Training courses, regional events, and communities are also essential for sharing information and establishing the evolving base knowledge that internal audit professionals require to add value. However, communication skills are equally important. It’s no longer enough to be great at your job. We all need to be able to tell others why the job itself is valuable and what they gain from having internal audit.
The need to be human
The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) is making human communication skills even more essential. AI can be a fantastic aid for internal audit teams, but as tech takes on more of the work that internal auditors used to be skilled at, so internal audit needs to focus more on using this information to benefit organisations – and this includes explaining what internal audit does beyond technical data monitoring. Organisations need to understand the full scope of what internal audit does and why it matters, which brings us back to public interest again. We can work better in the public interest if the public appreciate what we do.
As technology develops, we need to train and develop continually. Skills are becoming obsolete faster than ever before, and professional bodies are an essential source of training that is not available elsewhere. More than ever, internal audit teams need to look widely for recruits with aptitude and curiosity and the ability to learn. They don’t necessarily need specific technical skills that could go out of date. They need the mindset of an internal auditor and the ability to develop into great internal audit professionals.
To get these people, internal audit teams must compete with other professions and offer training and re-training as part of career development. This year we are increasing our engagement with students by sponsoring the Accounting Society at Lancaster University, hosting events for its members and helping them promote internal audit as a career. If this is successful, we may look to roll this out to other universities and colleges.
The Chartered IIA will continue to promote members and their skills at all levels, and provide a range of events and training courses. If you do the same internally and in all your social engagements, we will support the terms of our Charter, demonstrate our public purpose and achieve the aims of our strategy.