The problem

Despite the promulgation of global standards for internal audit, the fact remains that the quality, scope and approach for internal audit is highly variable – ranging from a parking lot for people awaiting outplacement, through to leading edge advisory groups who are actively sought out by Boards and Senior Executives alike.

The permission set for internal audit is now far greater than it’s original core competency, leading to far greater expectations than ever before, but budget constraints mean that clear priorities must be set and agreed to give audit teams a chance of meeting those expectations.

Due to the number of stakeholders that internal audit needs to satisfy, the chances of misunderstanding stakeholder expectations are high – in fact, nearly every survey which compares internal audit’s perceptions with those of it’s stakeholders shows that Internal Audit believes that it should be focusing on areas which it’s stakeholders don’t consider relevant, while also believing that it shouldn’t be focusing on areas which stakeholders are actually most concerned with.

It is my belief that a very significant portion of the problems with internal audit come from unclear expectations, and therefore an inability to resource and execute effectively against those expectations. The remainder tend to come from a lack of knowledge of what is possible and how to put it to practice rather than a lack of desire or intellect to achieve a defined result.

The solution

In most cases an experienced outsider can identify the root causes relatively quickly – whether they be capability issues, resourcing issues, expectation gaps, clarity of brief or simply lack of recent experience on what is possible within a best practice audit function.

Our goal is to work with internal audit leadership, executive management and Directors to assist them to develop a clear goal of what internal audit could and should achieve and assist as required to put a management plan in place to hit those goals. This can include strategic planning, stakeholder alignment, assistance with determining appropriate sourcing methods and putting them in place, introduction of self assessment tools, methodology development, training or other capability development activities.

Why Todd Davies & Associates

I’ve spent the past 10 years focused on helping the Internal Audit functions establish themselves as a highly valued, insightful tool for Audit Committees and Senior Executives. This has been achieved through a range of roles:

• Head of Audit & Risk of a top 50 listed company, responsible for establishing the internal audit function from a zero base, and using a range of sourcing approaches and providers as a stepping stone to creating a high impact in-house function
• Global head of methodology for KPMG’s internal audit practice - helping them transform themselves into a high value, high insight provider and move to #1 in this market globally
• Director of the Institute of Internal Auditors - brought in as a change agent to help the organisation refresh itself in light of increased demands on and by it’s members
• Member of the ASX Corporate Governance Council - working with them to develop a pragmatic approach to risk management, internal control and internal audit for all listed companies
• Account manager responsible for the sale and delivery of co-sourced and outsourced internal audit services
• Outsourced head of internal audit for major clients in the public and private sector
• Co-founder of the Corporate Audit Roundtable – a knowledge sharing group for progressive heads of audit from top 50 companies
• Public speaker and thought leader on what is possible within internal audit

Simply, I believe that with the right mandate and capability, Internal Audit can be one of the most positive and influential drivers of change in any organisation, and if you don’t believe this, I’d love to show you the case studies and help it happen for you.