Richard Chambers' 500th Blog Post: Final Reflections

In his blog, IIA President and CEO Richard Chambers shares his personal reflections and insights on the internal audit profession.\

When I assumed the role of President and CEO of The IIA on Jan. 5, 2009, little did I know that I was embarking on what would become the longest and most rewarding professional assignment of my life. The world was in a dark place that winter as economies had plunged into the most severe crisis in seven decades.

As the saying goes, when the economy catches a cold, not-for-profit organizations like The IIA catch the flu. So, with the world suffering pneumonia, my entire focus in those early months was squarely on the challenges we faced as an organization — not the amazing journey that would lie ahead.

On Feb. 10, 2009, I wrote my first blog, "Chief Audit Executives Beware: We Are Entering One of Those Eras Again!" My message then is as relevant today: Chief audit executives (CAEs) must be continuously attuned to the risks their organizations face and to their stakeholders' expectations for internal audit. I concluded that inaugural blog with a list of "10 signs that potential trouble may be brewing for the CAE:"

1. You are executing an annual audit plan developed from a risk assessment conducted six months ago, and no new audits have been added in the past two months.
2. You increasingly find yourself arguing with stakeholders about why internal auditing should not be addressing specific new or emerging risks.
3. The audit committee is surfacing more new risks to you than you are to it.
4. Audit committee members are citing best practices they have observed in other companies with increasing frequency.
5. Your CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), or audit committee chair is citing internal audit thought leadership that you have not heard about.
6. You are getting a lot of pressure from your stakeholders to undergo an external quality assessment. An external quality assessment is a great idea and mandated by The IIA's International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing — but it should be your idea and not theirs.
7. Your budget/staffing is being reduced, and you are not even being asked about the impact.
8. You find yourself on the audit committee agenda with less and less frequency.
9. You are getting fewer and fewer phone calls and emails from key stakeholders.
10. You discover that one of your peers in the CFO organization has just joined The IIA.

Read the whole blog 'My 500th Blog Post: Final Reflections From The IIA'