The Institute of Internal Auditors, which has experienced unprecedented growth in membership the past couple of years, is reaching out to its global membership to conduct the organization’s biggest-ever research study of the internal-auditing profession.
As reported in last week’s Accounting Industry Update, at the end of this month, the Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based group will distribute a survey with the help of its 66 affiliates worldwide that will examine the skills auditors possess, their educational background, and the types of projects with which they are involved. The survey aims to help the IIA formulate guidance, standards, and certification examinations for its members. It also may provide individual auditors with a better understanding of their organizational roles, as well as ways to benchmark their performance and their positions.
The study was inspired, in part, by the rapid growth experienced by the internal-audit profession in recent years amid a sharpening regulatory environment. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is just one example of legislation that has impacted businesses, and their auditors, across borders. The mandatory compliance of publicly traded companies based in the United States, and those headquartered overseas but listed on U.S. exchanges, has increased the demand for auditing skills. Regulators in other countries also have been adopting, or are at least considering, similar measures as they seek ways to bolster the transparency of organizations in their borders.
Richards
“Sarbanes-Oxley has had a ripple effect in other countries,” says Dave Richards, president of the IIA. “Every country that I have visited in the last year or more has some initiative on internal controls assessment.”
The IIA expects membership this year to grow by about 20 percent, after expanding by 15 percent last year to 100,000 members worldwide, Richards said. According to Richards, the IIA currently has about 125,000 members; in previous years it averaged 3 percent to 5 percent growth. “Internal auditing is a hot profession that is very much in demand globally,” he says.
CBOK
The excerpt below is from the Institute of Internal Auditors’ executive summary regarding the Common Body of Knowledge survey.
The purpose of this study is to determine exactly what knowledge is necessary for professional internal auditors. This CBOK study addresses the following questions:
Is there a CBOK for internal auditors?
If a CBOK exists, what knowledge is included?
At what level should internal auditors possess the various knowledge elements (competencies) of the CBOK?
What knowledge should be included on the CIA examination to certify a person as a professional internal auditor?
What knowledge should be included in professional development and training seminars for internal auditors?...
What is Included in the CBOK?
The CBOK is comprised of 334 individual competencies in 2k) different subject areas. The 20 disciplines, in order of overall perceived importance, are: (1) Reasoning, (4) Communications, (3) Auditing, (2) Ethics, (5) Organizations, (7) Sociology, (8) Fraud, (6) Computers, (9) Financial Accounting, (10) Data Gathering, (13) Managerial Accounting, (19) Government, (I 1) Legal, (15) Finance, (2k)) Taxes, (17) Quantitative Methods, (12) Marketing, (14) Statistics, (16) Economics, and (18) International. International ranked low because many of the other subject areas included competencies important to auditors in all countries. Competencies in several other disciplines were considered but eliminated through meetings and interviews with practicing internal auditors in several major cities in North America.
Source:
Institute of Internal Auditors’ Executive Summary Regarding The Common Body of Knowledge Survey
CBOK Seeks Worldwide Results
Known as the “Common Body of Knowledge,” or CBOK, the study will be conducted by the IIA’s Research Foundation, a tax-exempt corporation that helps sponsor and disseminate educational resources to the internal-auditing profession. To encourage participation, the survey was translated into 15 languages; it was tested earlier this year by 150 practitioners in a pilot program, whose feedback has been incorporated into the questions, says Jeffrey Swerdlow, the IIA’s director of project management research who will be overseeing the project.
The study also will look at such topics as the size of internal-audit operations within an organization, hiring practices, types of assignments, and the use of outsourcing, Swerdlow says.
The IIA hopes the results, which will be officially released at the organization’s annual conference in Amsterdam next June, will help it more accurately guide the profession, for example, by making sure that the industry’s standards for professional practice are realistic, or by ensuring that professionals are receiving the education and training they need to perform their jobs, Swerdlow says. The project also will help the IIA examine trends in specific geographic areas, allowing the organization to tailor initiatives for developing the profession according to the needs of individual countries.
The IIA plans to conduct a CBOK program every three years so the group can develop a core of knowledge about the internal-auditing profession, Swerdlow says.
Extensive details about CBOK and the survey can be found in the box above, right.
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