Internal Auditing’s Value to Stakeholders

What should the governing bodies and senior management expect from internal auditing?

To help internal audit activities effectively communicate the value of their work to primary stakeholders – such as audit committees, boards of directors, management, and audit clients – The IIA has developed an easy-to-understand message tool. It’s memorable and adaptable.

Communicated visually by three intersecting circles, the “value proposition” is based on the three core elements of value delivered by internal auditing to an organization: assurance, insight, and objectivity. Focusing on these three core internal audit concepts within your communication with stakeholders will enable them understand the core value your internal audit activity provides.

Download a one-page handout you can use with your stakeholders. See the right-hand column for various language formats. Check back often for additional materials to help you.

Internal Auditing = Assurance, Insight & Objectivity: Governing bodies and senior management rely on internal auditing for objective assurance and insight on the effectiveness and efficiency of governance, risk management, and internal control processes.

To expand the explanation of internal auditing’s value, it can be defined by sub-values.

	ASSURANCE = Governance, Risk & Control  Internal auditing provides assurance on the organization’s governance, risk management, and control processes to help the organization achieve its strategic, operational, financial and compliance objectives.
	INSIGHT = Catalyst, Analyses, & Assessments Internal auditing is a catalyst for improving an organization’s effectiveness and efficiency by providing insight and recommendations based on analyses and assessments of data and business process.
	OBJECTIVITY = Integrity, Accountability, & Independence With commitment to integrity and accountability, internal auditing provides value to governing bodies and senior management as an objective source of independent advice.

Note: Because internal auditing is a global profession, alternate values may be considered in the intersecting circles to accommodate language translation. Suggested alternate values include: compliance, counsel, consultation, value-add, recommendations, support, constructive, efficiency, credibility, quality, and competence.