Conversations with internal auditors

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Aims to examine the New Zealand internal auditor role and conceptualise on the auditor's influence over that role. At its heart lies the question of how an effective internal auditor can overcome the tension of working with management to improve performance while also remaining sufficiently distant from management in order to report on their performance. Design/methodology/approach -An Eisenhardt-inspired multiple case-based approach in which the researcher made observations, examined documents and interviewed senior internal auditors in six New Zealand organisations. Findings -Three concepts characteristic of those who best balanced their role: the internal auditor's external professional status, the presence of a formal and informal communication network, and the internal auditor's place in determining their own role. Informing these concepts is the auditor's ability to manage ambiguity. Research limitations/implications -Limitations of the research include those typical of qualitative study generally and that it is less objectively-measured; however, compensating procedures are employed. Further study could explore each source of influence in more detail and in different contexts, and examine the framework's application elsewhere. Gender studies may be of value. Practical implications -Results reveal how independence dilemmas are addressed by those internal auditors who are most successful in balancing their sometimes conflicting professional role. Originality/value -An original contribution is the conceptualisation of the internal auditor's role as both an independent evaluator of and consultant to management.

The Jurisdiction of Internal Auditing and the Quest for Professionalization: The Danish Case

“…Being subordinated to external auditing, Danish IA draws on the professional status of external auditing in a way similar to that reported by Van Peursem (2004, 2005 in New Zealand. Abbott (1988) notes that subordination to an established profession followed by subsequent differentiation of the jurisdiction is a common long-term strategy of professionalization.…”

The Effectiveness of Internal Auditing: An Empirical Examination of its Determinants in Israeli Organisations

“…Van Peursem (2005), based on interviews with Australian internal auditors, concluded that independence from management is a dominant feature of successful auditing programs. Those auditors able to set their own agenda seem to be the most powerful in this respect because their selection of what to audit and when they can include assessments of senior managers as well as assessments for them.…”

“…The subject is worthy of attention because internal auditors are important, even crucial, in an economy that relies upon independently produced information (Van Peursem 2005). Indeed, IA has become an indispensable management tool for achieving effective control in both public and private organisations (Eden and Moriah 1996).…”

Identifying Organizational Drivers of Internal Audit Effectiveness

“…The auditors' competencies can also increase the effectiveness of the IA team by improving the recognition of their role within the organization. Previous studies underlined that line managers often believe that internal auditors do not have enough knowledge to provide useful help (Griffiths, 1999; Van Peursem, 2004, 2005) and, if this is the case, they do not take into account their advice, hence reducing the effectiveness of IA (Van Peursem, 2004, 2005).…”