More than ever before, internal auditors are charged with providing assurance to the organization's shareholders. Indeed, the very definition of internal auditing identifies assurance as one of the profession's key elements:
Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.
As public accounting's involvement in providing assurance services that were traditionally performed by internal auditors increases, the playing field will undoubtedly become more competitive. This new development, however, introduces opportunities for internal auditors to work collaboratively with outside providers, with both parties bringing their own unique expertise and skills to the mix. It also presents internal auditors with fresh opportunities for expanding assurance services and thereby adding value to the organization.
This valuable research report provides specific guidance for expanding your assurance services such as:
Focusing on information flowing within the auditor's organization and between it and external entities.
Increasing skills that will enable expansion into new areas of service, such as electronic commerce and systems reliability.
Serving new intra-organizational "clients," particularly business units that make decisions based on information generated elsewhere.