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Internal auditing has transformed over the past two decades from its beginnings as a financial enforcer to a respected member of the management decision‐making process. Internal auditors now are providing management with information of a broader range of company activities than they are used to. This transformation is far from over because of the nature of the auditor′s work and the perceptions of management and the public concerning audits. The function of internal auditors is not only to measure and evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of organisational activities and controls but also to participate with management in high‐level decision making. The partnership concept of internal auditing is needed to enhance the image and change the attitudes of management with regards to internal auditing in light of the increased demands and responsibilities of the new auditor. Students, internal auditors and management must be educated properly and trained for this partnership concept. By using the internal auditor as part of the management team and by offering more to management and assuming more risk, the goals of the organisation are more likely to be achieved effectively, efficiently and economically.

Internal Control – Integrated Framework (COSO Report, 1992) defines internal control, suggests a framework for internal control, and presents criteria to use in evaluating controls. The document also provides guidance to management developing a report on controls for use by external parties. SSAE 2, “Reporting on an Entity′s Internal Control Structure over Financial Reporting” (1993) offers assistance to the practitioner reporting on management′s assertion regarding internal control over financial reporting. Discusses and provides an example of management′s report on internal control prepared according to COSO. Also discusses the accountant′s examination under SSAE guidance of management′s assertions and subsequent report and provides an example of the accountant′s report. Concludes by discussing the new business opportunities for the accountant which may result from external reporting on internal controls over financial reporting.

Discusses the development of internal audit theory and practice with reference to the Sino‐China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC), a large, state‐owned petrochemical enterprise group. Examines the organizational status, authority and role of internal audit, and the question of independence. Notes the move from financial to managerial and operational auditing, identifying specific examples. Suggests future direction, which might include a closer relationship with state audit.

The objective of this paper is to provide a global perspective of the operational risk (OR) management framework from an internal audit viewpoint.

This paper describes the new role of the internal audit function in reviewing the OR framework.

An efficient OR management framework will improve and reinforce the internal controls of the organization. Internal audit should be alert to the whole process of implementation of the systems for managing OR in entities.

This area has not been analyzed in depth to date. The paper provides a summary guide to audit of OR management frameworks in financial institutions.

This paper outlines the results of a survey designed to compare the opinions of internal auditors to one class of audit customers – namely management accountants. To function effectively, internal auditors and the customers of audit services should possess a similar understanding of what makes internal auditing a value‐added activity. Failure to reach this understanding could result in the perception that internal audit is simply an obstacle to achieving production objectives. This can result in underutilized audit services and ignored audit recommendations. Fortunately, internal auditors and management accountants have similar views, but there are a few areas of difference that should be addressed by internal auditors.

This chapter presents a study on the role of internal communication for diversity and inclusion (D&I) management in organisations. It sheds light on how the units D&I management and internal communication are linked to each other in terms of exchanging and sharing ideas and know-how and the (common) pursuit and achievement of strategically set objectives. In total, 20 D&I experts (17 D&I managers and three D&I management consultants) from Austria and Germany were interviewed. The focus of the interviews was on the development of D&I management strategies and concomitant measures as well as the internal D&I communication activities. The findings indicate the importance of internal communication to communicate D&I goals and measures. In this context, the internal communication department plays the role of a service provider and advisor. Numerous communication channels are used to communicate D&I initiatives, with ‘rich’ media such as interpersonal communication and social intranet being particularly common. Furthermore, the results show that storytelling is a particularly popular form of communication. The study contributes to the scholarly examination of the role of internal communication in D&I management, to what extent and how the two units collaborate, and what communication measures are taken to pursue D&I management goals.

This paper aims to investigate management auditing, a thorough examination of an organization and the management in place, through an empirical research to gather data about how management audits are perceived and implemented among Geneva’s (Switzerland) business community. The board of directors is in charge of a corporation’s overall supervision. The internal auditing function works under the aegis of the board to ensure that the directors will properly execute their responsibilities as defined by corporate governance rules. Management auditing could thus be used to improve corporation performance. However, management audits are not commonly used or referred to as a tool to address corporate governance. Findings enable the authors to both explain why management audits are not commonly used or referred to as a tool to address corporate governance and generate related research hypotheses.

In this paper, the authors rely on an ethnographic study aimed at exploring perceptions of management audits in service companies from the Geneva region. This study is based on transcripts from 85 semi-directed interviews, conducted over a three-year period, of professionals with managerial and auditing backgrounds. The economic context during these three years was consistently characterized by the Swiss and international financial crises, ensuring that the findings remain comparable over this time period.

This paper identified three main factors that influence the integration of management audits into corporate practices: the degree of acceptance of the tools and requirements of management audits, the national culture and values embodied in the practice and the degree of corporate governance maturity. This paper presents the findings in the form of hypotheses that can be tested on any adoption of good corporate governance practices – not on management audits alone.

Notwithstanding the limitations due to its nature and extent, this study’s main limitation is its lack of validation of the hypotheses. In further research, the authors intend to use a quantitative survey to validate the research hypotheses and make statistical inferences.

This paper contributes to the literature because it is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study to empirically examine the significant link between management audits and corporate governance. The findings could be interesting for an international audience because they indicate possible action points that boards of directors can leverage to carry out management audits. The findings also bridge a gap between the literature on management audits and the expanding role of the internal audit function. This study also examines the way companies – in the Swiss context – understand, perceive and may be ready to apply management audits as a good corporate governance practice.

Highlights the role played by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the Treadway Commission, and other professional organizations in furthering the establishment of audit committees in the USA. In the international arena, the UK Cadbury Committee, the Australian Borsch Committee, and the Canadian Macdonald Commission have influenced the widespread use of corporate audit committees in their respective countries. The guidelines on audit committees set by the IIA, AICPA, SEC, and the Treadway Commission have had a tremendous impact worldwide. Cultural differences may, however, limit the formation and effectiveness of audit committees globally even though auditing is a relatively homogeneous profession. The Institute of Internal Auditors, as an international professional association, may wish to consider the cultural dimensions of corporate governance in formulating professional internal auditing standards dealing with the structure and functions of audit committees internationally.

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of integrated audit management and its impact on business sustainability for an emerging economy.

Drawing on the dynamic capability and contingency theory, the authors investigated the factors on integrated audit management implementation using a sample of 104 certified Malaysian manufacturing firms. The collected data has been analysed using the partial least squares through the structural equation modelling technique.

The findings have revealed that human resource capability, technological capability and quality capability have a robust influence on the importance of the internal audit process, which, in turn, leads to integrated audit management effectiveness towards the outcome of business sustainability. The results have also indicated the mediating effect of the internal audit process on the research model.

The contribution from the empirical findings will provide productive insights to help manufacturing firms devise an effective integrated internal audit management system to ensure business sustainability and increase competitiveness advantages for an emerging economy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse company‐specific factors associated with adoption of risk‐based auditing. It seeks to explore the role of internal auditing in enterprise risk management (ERM).

Findings are drawn from a questionnaire survey, sent in 2006, to all 96 chief internal auditors who were members of the Institute of Portuguese Internal Auditors.

In planning an annual schedule of audits, the adoption of a risk‐based approach is statistically significant in international firms (p≤0.05) and companies listed on the Portuguese stock market (p≤0.10). There is a strong (but not significant) association between risk‐based annual audit planning and entities which are private, in the finance sector, and large. In planning each audit engagement, adoption of a risk‐based approach is correlated positively with entity size. Internal auditing is more proactive in the implementation of ERM in smaller organisations, and is more important in the finance industry and the private sector.

A better understanding emerges of factors associated with the adoption of risk‐based auditing, together with an enhanced appreciation of the role of internal auditing in ERM.

The paper reveals the specific characteristics of companies that are associated with the adoption of risk‐based approaches in the internal audit process. It is the first paper published about risk‐based internal auditing in Portugal.