Q&A with Clarissa 1/30/2024

Clarissa Lucas

Jan 30, 2024 • 2 min read

I'm often asked a number of questions about Auditing with Agility, and themes definitely tend to emerge with those questions. Here's one I get frequently:

Question: You focused on partnering with clients to perform work. In the audit context of working with stakeholders, what are some ways you’ve found success doing that while maintaining independence and objectivity?

Answer: This question comes up A LOT. When my team and I were beginning our journey, we asked the same question of ourselves too. Independence and objectivity are critical to internal auditors. So much so that both “independent” and “objective” appear right at the beginning of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA’s) definition of internal auditing.

To preserve independence, you’ll want to maintain separate administrative reporting lines. Internal audit should still report to the Audit Committee of the Board (or another similar independent reporting line). A strong partnership between auditors and clients can absolutely occur while maintaining independent reporting lines. Keep in mind that the IIA clarified in one of their guidance documents that to be independent does not mean that you have to be isolated.

To preserve objectivity, auditors must maintain decision rights. If through collaboration with audit clients, the auditors feel like they should include something in the scope of the audit, even if the clients suggest they not include it in scope, the auditors retain the right to include the area in the audit’s scope.

Additional content:

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Book Review - Investments Unlimited: I recently re-read and reviewed Investments Unlimited: A Novel about DevOps, Security, Audit Compliance, and Thriving in the Digital Age. In the book, readers follow the story of a fictional company, Investments Unlimited, as it's employees scramble to address a Matter Requiring Immediate Attention (MRIA) from the organization's regulators, regarding insufficient IT governance processes. I highly recommend the book. For a more detailed review, check out my post here.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in Internal Auditing 2023 by Norman Marks: Earlier this month, I provided a reflection on 2023. Here's another reflection on last year, this time by Norman Marks, a premier thought leader in internal auditing. Check out his blog post here.

Don't forget to get your copy of Beyond Agile Auditing: Three Core Components to Revolutionize Your Internal Audit Practices today. It's available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook versions. Order here.