March 2003

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The Internal Auditor's Role in Corporate Governance

This research report, by James Roth, Ph.D., CIA, CCSA, and Donald Espersen, CIA, covers the variety of roles internal auditors play in corporate governance.  The primary focus is on what internal auditors are doing to help their companies meet the new U.S. listing requirements. The study addresses issues such as balancing the conflicting needs of audit committees and management, and finding the resources to do more with governance. The research is primarily for publicly held companies but the principles can also be applied to all public and private sector organizations.

This report represents The Foundation's commitment to using alternative distribution methods to deliver timely information to its customers. While the finished research will be offered through The IIA Bookstore, several tools gathered during this project are available now on www.theiia.org including an Implementation Guide to Section 302 - CEO/CFO Certfication of Disclosure Controls, El Paso Internal Control Assessment Survey (which was downloaded more than 22,000 times in January alone), an audit committee charter issue matrix, and a sample audit committee charter. These tools supplement The Foundation's Assessment Guide for U.S. Legislative, Regulatory, and Listing Exchanges.