IIA Announces Key Updates to CIA Certification Exam

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has announced important updates to the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Examination. The CIA exam is a three-part exam designed to test candidates’ knowledge, skills, and abilities related to current global internal audit practices.

Launched in 1974, the CIA exam is administered in more than 800 testing facilities in more than 150 countries around the world. About 147,000 CIAs have been awarded since.

To ensure the exam’s content remains current and valid, the CIA underwent a job analysis study, with The IIA reaching out to candidates, certification holders, academics, experienced internal audit professionals, and other stakeholders around the world to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities most relevant to today’s internal audit professionals.

Results of the study confirmed the need to revise the exam syllabi to reflect the evolution of the internal audit profession worldwide.

“Since it was introduced 44 years ago, the CIA has become a globally recognized flagship certification for internal auditors,” said IIA President and CEO Richard F. Chambers, CIA, QIAL, CGAP, CCSA, CRMA. “The global business environment and the internal audit profession have undergone great change. The updated exam offers greater clarity, uniformity, and alignment with The IIA’s International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing.”

The topic areas on each exam syllabus have been revised to bring the exams up to date with the current global practice of internal auditing, minimize duplication and overlap among the three exam parts and clarify the knowledge, skills, and abilities that exam candidates must possess in order to pass the exam.

The updated exam is expected to be released in January 2019. Initially offered in English, IIA Global will work with affiliates around the world to develop tailored plans for transitioning additional languages in 2019.