Rethinking Internal Audit: What the New IIA Standards Really Mean for Leadership
Rethinking Internal Audit: What the New IIA Standards Really Mean for Leadership
As change accelerates across industries, internal audit is no longer just about ticking boxes. It’s about stepping into a role that is strategic, ethical, and future-oriented. The 2024 Global Internal Audit Standards signal more than a structural update, they reflect a reimagining of what internal audit is meant to be.
And the message is clear: internal audit isn’t simply about controls anymore. It’s about governance, trust, and integrity.
Internal Audit, Repositioned: A Mandate to Serve the Public Interest
Perhaps the biggest shift is the explicit reframing of internal audit as a function that serves the public interest.
That phrase may seem lofty, but it’s practical. It means internal audit must go beyond financial stewardship. It must uphold transparency, ethics, and stakeholder trust. Think of it as internal audit moving from being a “safety check” to becoming a voice of conscience within the organisation.
For executive teams and audit committees, this demands a mindset shift: Internal audit isn’t just here to review controls. It’s here to help protect your license to operate — reputationally, ethically, and strategically.
From Rules to Principles: A New Framework
The 2024 Standards restructure internal audit around five domains and 15 principles. This evolution from a rules-based model to a principle-led framework opens the door to more meaningful, context-specific assurance.
The domains are:
- Purpose of Internal Audit
- Ethics and Professionalism
- Governing the Function
- Managing the Function
- Performing Audit Services
This isn’t about loosening expectations. It’s about demanding more relevant and value-aligned outcomes, especially across complex, global, or highly regulated sectors.
Where Mature Functions Are Feeling the Friction
Even well-established internal audit teams are being tested. These are five areas where many are struggling to adapt:
1. Professional Courage Isn’t Just Talk
Auditors are expected to challenge senior leaders — but how many feel safe doing it? Embedding professional skepticism into both culture and methodology remains a gap.
2. Coordinated Assurance is Still Theoretical
Despite all the talk of integration across the three lines, many organisations lack a practical framework to map and align assurance efforts. The result: overlap, confusion, and blind spots.
3. Continuous Improvement is Hard to Measure
Improvement can’t just mean “we ticked the box better this year.” Functions need to show impact — how audit advice changed outcomes, influenced decisions, or built stakeholder trust.
4. Static Planning Can’t Handle Emerging Risk
Traditional audit plans don’t keep up with AI governance, ESG scrutiny, or geopolitical swings. An agile, dynamic approach is no longer optional.
5. The Public Interest Mandate Is Still Not Internalised
For some teams, the shift to thinking beyond internal controls — to the broader role internal audit plays in societal trust and ethical leadership — hasn’t landed.
Five Questions Every Audit Committee Should Be Asking
1. Is internal audit aligned to the public interest mandate?
Is the function actively contributing to transparency, ethics, and good governance?
2. Are we enabling professional courage?
Do auditors feel empowered to challenge, escalate, and ask uncomfortable questions?
3. Can we adapt to new and emerging risks fast enough?
Is internal audit planning dynamic, or locked into outdated priorities?
4. Do we truly have coordinated assurance?
Are we mapping who provides assurance across the organisation — or duplicating efforts?
5. How do we measure internal audit’s impact — not just its compliance?
Are we looking beyond KPIs and audit counts to real influence on risk posture and strategic decisions?
The Real Message: Internal Audit is Now a Strategic Lever
If you’re a head of audit, an executive, or a board member, this isn’t just an implementation project. It’s a mindset shift.
The new Standards don’t ask internal audit to keep pace.
They ask it to lead.
The organisations that take this seriously will gain more than a compliant audit function. They’ll gain a partner in resilience, foresight, and trust.