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Internal Audit Principles

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INTERNAL AUDIT PRINCIPLES

The main and ancillary objectives of an internal audit

The main objective of internal auditing is to assist members of executive and senior management in the effective discharge of their duties and responsibilities with regard to risk management, control and governance processes. To this end, the internal auditor furnishes them with analyses, appraisals, recommendations, counsel and information concerning the activities reviewed.

The discovery of errors and fraud is the ancillary objective of internal auditing.

The internal auditor as an adviser to members of the organization

As an adviser, the internal auditor examines and reviews the activities of the organization in order to evaluate them with a view to furnishing members of the organization with advice, information and recommendations that will enable them to discharge their duties effectively.

As an adviser, the internal auditor merely offers advice, gives information or makes recommendations. The ultimate decision whether or not to accept this advice or information or to implement these recommendations, therefore always rests with executive management. The internal audit activity should never possess the organizational power to force top executive management to accept the audit results.

Management may decide to:

1. accept the auditor’s recommendations, in which case the internal auditor must ascertain that the corrective action taken is achieving the desired results, or
2. reject the internal auditor’s recommendations, in which case the internal auditor should ascertain that top executive management has assumed the risk of failing to take corrective action on reported findings.

The internal audit activity as a control function

The internal audit activity serves as a detective control in the system of internal control – in other words, it functions as a

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