74% of Internal Audit Leaders are Working on Transformation Initiatives

Nearly three out of four (74%) chief audit executives (CAEs) and senior internal audit leaders report that their organizations have completed or are currently undertaking initiatives to transform and innovate their internal audit function. That’s according to Protiviti’s 2022 Next-Generation Internal Audit Survey.

Seventy percent of internal audit leaders said their department’s focus on innovation and transformation increased in the last year. Strong progression of next-generation journeys is a promising development for internal audit groups who have historically struggled to allocate time and resources to innovate their processes, putting them at risk of falling behind in skills, methodologies, and use of data and technology. This progress is underpinned by a consensus that these next-gen efforts are worthwhile from a bottom-line standpoint. Over half of internal audit leaders (52%) see moderate to high return on investment from their respective innovation and transformation activities.

“Many organizations are beginning to see that regardless of their scale or industry, there are numerous benefits to be realized through the adoption of next-generation practices in governance, methodology, data and technology within internal audit, and we expect many leaders will continue to accelerate their transformation efforts,” said Andrew Struthers-Kennedy, a Protiviti managing director and global leader of the firm’s Internal Audit and Financial Advisory practice. “Survey respondents indicated there is increasing desire from senior management, audit committees and boards for internal audit functions to become more technology- and data-enabled in order to add value to their organizations. It’s incumbent upon CAEs to become or designate a ‘transformation director’ to ensure their group adopts agile auditing and becomes a more strategic partner to their organization’s leadership.”