Make every month Internal Audit Awareness Month

Each May, the Institute of Internal Auditors promotes Internal Audit Awareness Month to bring attention to the profession of internal auditing. During this year’s observance, the UNC Charlotte Internal Audit Department provided several articles about the profession for publication on Inside UNC Charlotte.

“We want you to get to know us and how we operate so when we come around, you will be more at ease and feel less threatened,” said Tom York, chief audit officer. “We know our profession has that effect on people, and we really want you to know we are all on the same team. Our vision statement calls on us to be a respected campus partner and one of our professional values is courage – a willingness to speak the hard truth on difficult subjects and ‘tell it like it is’ to those who need to hear it. The more we know about each other, the better we will perform up to our vision and to our values.”

The University has concluded one academic and fiscal year, and as it begins to look ahead to the next one, it is inevitable that unexpected challenges and issues will present themselves. Sometimes to meet the unexpected, one may need some out-of-the-box assistance. One of the Internal Audit Department’s goals is “be relevant.” Staff members have developed a reputation as value-added to University operations – they listen to the campus, go where they are needed and where they can do the most good.

“One way we are trying to be more relevant is by offering more advisory and assistance services to the campus. You don’t have to wait for an audit to get us to stop by – visit our services offered Web page, send in your request, and one of us will get back to you to discuss your needs. Many hands make light a heavy load,” said York. “Our audit plan for FY2017 has been approved, and we are finalizing the audit calendar. If you are on the plan, we have already been in touch, but if you are curious about where we are going in the next year, watch the audit plans tab on our Web page for the posting of the new plan in a few weeks. We continue to mix in visits to new places with return trips to old friends. If you have any ideas for new audits, please email us at internal_aduit@uncc.edu, and we will add them to our list.”