May is Internal Audit Awareness Month, a time that internal auditors around the world dedicate efforts to elevate the image of their profession.
According to Tom York, UNC Charlotte’s director of internal audit, one of the challenges in promoting the profession is to defeat perceptions of who auditors are and how they operate.
“The first thing you should know about your Internal Audit Department is just that – we are your Internal Audit Department. As fellow University employees, we define success by helping you do your job more effectively and more efficiently. We can do this by providing assurance, insight and objectivity from our unique perspective and independent position within the University,” York explained. He added that in partnering with an internal auditor, campus units get someone who brings many roles to the table:
- A coach
- An advocate
- A risk manager
- A controls expert
- An efficiency specialist
- A problem-solving partner
“We have recently completed our first-ever quality assurance review by an external reviewer and were awarded the highest rating possible,” said York. “While we do have a few opportunities for improvement, you can be confident that our audit work is executed in conformance with the International Professional Practices Framework that is used by internal auditors world-wide.”
York said internal auditors are guided by four key principles:
- Transparency - To ensure things are as they should be, internal auditors monitor, assess, investigate, report and advise. They strive for transparency throughout the organization, and when it is not at the appropriate level, they recommend ways to strengthen it
- Reliability - An internal auditor’s reason for being is to help management and its board meet organizational goals and objectives. Those at the top must be able to rely on the advice, accuracy, comprehensiveness of information, big-picture perspectives, recommendations and assurances internal auditors provide
- Effectiveness - The twin to efficiency, effectiveness is critical, not only to the internal auditors, but also to the well-being of the entire organization. Internal auditors watch for red flags that might indicate potential for losses, whether the risks are reputational, operational, financial, IT- or compliance- oriented or strategic in nature
- Ethics - Professional internal auditors adhere to a Code of Ethics based on the highest principles and rules of conduct. They demonstrate integrity and responsibility, earning and holding the trust that management and the board place in their objective assurance on risk management, control and governance. In addition, they monitor the organization’s ethical climate and bring issues of concern to the attention of management and the board
Learn more about the University’s Internal Audit Department online, and call on us anytime, stated York. “We really are here to help.”