The Internal Audit Committee: Internal Audit Oversight

The Internal Audit Committee:
Internal Audit Oversight

Roles and Responsibilities
Over the years, the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors — specifically, of the board’s audit committee, if in existence — have become increasingly demanding and scrutinized. While today’s audit committee must encompass a level of financial literacy, independence, and knowledge about risk management and internal control; individual audit committee members must be deeply committed, highly experienced, and fully qualified in order to effectively carry out their varied responsibilities.

Among the many important roles the audit committee plays within an organization, is to provide Internal audit oversight. While — at first glance — this role might not appear to be terribly complex or time-consuming, further consideration reveals that the reality is the antithesis of simplicity. And as internal auditing’s contribution to effective organizational governance has evolved and become increasingly acknowledged and revered, the audit committee’s understanding of internal audit value, processes and procedures, strengths and weaknesses, and potential has escalated exponentially. As such, best practice indicates that the audit committee should define in its charter the scope of its relationship with the internal auditors, and should work to enhance
its oversight ability — subsequently strengthening the internal audit activity.

Quality-oriented audit committees beget quality-oriented internal audit activities. But the return on investment goes both ways. The internal auditors also can be an important resource for audit committee enhancement. They do this by reviewing the audit committee charter, providing timely information on new legislation and regulations, and fulfilling the role of educator to audit committee members.