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Watch our video about the Internal Auditor Ambition Model.
 

Introduction

As we enter a new era of internal audit with the new Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS), the Institute ofInternal Auditors (IIA) Netherlands is proud to present the update of the Ambition Model, which is fully aligned with the GIAS.

The Ambition Model has continued to evolve since its inception and this update reflects our ambition to remain at the forefront of the profession and provide good practices for this purpose. The purpose of the model remains unchanged: to enable internal audit functions to realize their full potential by setting ambitious goals and taking a proactive approach to quality assurance and improvement. Through the self-assessment tool, you'll gain insight into where you are now, how this compares to the Standards, where your ambitions lie and what steps you can take to realize those ambitions.

With the introduction of the new GIAS in 2024, we have updated the Ambition Model to reflect the new Standards that will take effect from January 2025. This update brings important changes that internal audit professionals can apply as they navigate the complexities of an ever-changing business landscape.

Our goal is not only to provide a framework for development, but also to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration between CAEs in different organizations, industries, and both small and large IAFs. The new version of the Ambition Model provides practical insights and concrete application options that can be effectively used to determine the ambition level, perform the self-assessment, and respond to for new developments and risks relevant to internal audit. With sufficient participants, the Ambition Model provides the opportunity for benchmarking.

We are convinced that the Ambition Model update will be a valuable tool for internal auditors worldwide. We invite you to explore the benefits of the Ambition Model and share your good practices and feedback with us. Together we can continue to develop our profession and add value within our organizations. Delivering quality is no longer just “conformance” but going the extra mile with effective “performance” of your IAF.

The model includes references to publications of IIA Global, the Internal Audit Foundation, IIA Netherlands and other good practices. During this alignment with the GIAS the taskforce collaborated with members of IFACI. We kept in close contact with the European usergroup, the IIA Global Director, the IIA Quality Services, the Director – Professional Standards, the Vice President, Standards & Guidance also chair of the Taskforce QA Manual. 

The model has been validated with CAEs, the Committee of Professional Practices (CPP) and the Quality Assessments Committee (CKT) of IIA Netherlands during the various stages of its development.

The Internal Audit Ambition Model is listed as an optional tool in the new IIA Global Quality Assessment Manual 2024 Edition. We are extremely grateful for this recognition and hope that it will boost new users and thus an increasingly solid benchmark results.

Benefits

The Ambition Model (AM) is an excellent tool for self-assessment, of both the achieved level of quality and compliance with the Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS), setting the ambition levels for the IAF, and communicating with the Board and the Audit Committee in particular. The AM provides concrete good practices that can serve as guidance for the CAE aiming more than just meeting the professional Standards. The AM helps CAEs formulate strategic objectives, evaluate the current IAF and define a road map to achieve the stated objectives. The AM can help the Board and the Audit Committee determine which aspects to take into account when assessing the internal audit mandate.

The AM is a tool that an IAF can use as:

• A self-assessment framework, for assessing the capabilities of their IAF against the new Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS) that  are effective since January 2025 and good practices.
• A road map for improvement, to help the IAF identify the possible areas of development and potential gaps in their audit department and decide on the necessary actions to close these gaps.
• A communication vehicle, as a basis for communicating within the IAF and with its stakeholders what is meant by effective internal auditing, how it serves an organization and its stakeholders, and for advocating the importance of internal auditing to decision makers.
• A benchmark tool, to compare the quality level of the IAF with other Internal Audit Functions, similar in size, industry, location and/or duration of existence.
   

Structure

The AM consists of five themes, divided into 13 subthemes and 40 topics to further detail and clarify the specific aspects that should be addressed by the IAF in determining their current and ambition level.

The five ambition levels which can be achieved, illustrate the stages through which an IAF can evolve as it defines, implements, measures, controls and improves its processes and practices to meet its ambitions.

The outcome of the five AM questionnaires based on the themes, result in a visual dashboard (with bar charts and the 'spider web') which shows the GIAS level, the IAFs current level and the IAFs ambition level.

History

Get to know more about the history of the Ambition Model

Access

The Ambition Model is available free of charge to CAEs who are member of the IIA.
If you are a CAE-member of one of the following institutes, please register via your own local institute.

• IIA France

If you are a member of IIA Netherlands, or a member of an institute other than those listed above, please fill in the details below so that we can process your request. 
An access key is provided once per organization.

Team

We encourage you to provide us with feedback and good practices, so we can continuously enhance the quality of the model. Please share and sent an email to ambition@iia.nl.

Webinar

• Slides Webinar Ambition Model 3 June 2025