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

The IA 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 will be effective from 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 IA 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 IA AM questionnaires based on the themes, result in a visual dashboard (with bar charts and the 'spider web') which portrays the IPPF level, the IAFs current level and the IAFs ambition level.

	Themes		Subtheme	Topic
1	Services and Role of Internal	1.1	IA Emerging topics	Artificial Intelligence
	Auditing			Cybersecurity audits
				Sustainability
				Strategy
				Soft Controls
		1.2	Advisory services	Scope
				Perform advisory services
2	Professional development	2.1	Manages Resources	Staff training (target-budget)
				Team development
				Professional associations
				Performance cycle and remuneration policy
				Technological resources
		2.2	HR Planning	Resource allocation (including co-sourcing or outsourcing)
				Resource planning
				Recruitment
3	Governing the Internal Audit	3.1	Role and authority of Internal Audit	Authorized by the Board (audit charter)
	Function	3.2	Management and oversight of the IA	Reporting Line
			activity	Funding of the audit department
				Oversight of the IAF
				Governance and Risk Management
		3.3	Access and awareness	Access to information, assets and people
				Awareness of the IA activity
4	Strategic planning and	4.1	Plans Stategically	Objectives
	Performance Measurement			Budget
		4.2	Performance Measurement	Measures
				Audience
				Process
		4.3	Communicates Effectively	Communication on IAF's activities
				IAF's collaborations
				IAF's collaborations: external auditor
5	Professional Practices	5.1	QAIP	Compliance with IPPF and other (professional) standards
				Quality Management reviews
		5.2	Planning Internal Audit	Audit universe and scope
				Periodicity of evaluating the plan
				Prioritization and approval of the plan
		5.3	Performing internal audit services	Methodologies
				Performing the audit - Planning
				Performing the audit - Fieldwork
				Communicating audit results
				Follow-up monitoring

History

Access

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

IIA Austria
IIA Belgium
IIA France
IIA Germany
IIA Spain
IIA Sweden

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.

First name*

Initials

Inserts

Surname*

Function*

Organization*

Global IIA account number*

Email*

Country*

GDPR

This tooling is GPDR compliant, all data is securely stored in data centers located in The Netherlands.

The revised privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, is in force from May 25th, 2018. This regulation ensures that your privacy and that of other users is guaranteed to the maximum.

For more details information please visit out partners information security related websites

SAAS: Zertic BV ISO 27001 certificate

Data centers: Leaseweb BV Security certificates

Meet the current 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.

Testimonial

"As a volunteer at the IIA, you get the chance to see so much of the world. Through this, we also hope to inspire other internal auditors to dedicate themselves to the profession. This project literally crosses borders."

TESTIMONIAL

IIA Volunteers Els and Maureen on 10 Years of the Ambition Model

The development of the Ambition Model began in 2014, and since then, we, Maureen Vermeij (CZ) and Els Heesakkers (Achmea), have focused on sharing knowledge and good practices on relevant themes for Internal Audit Functions (IAFs). Thanks to our efforts, the Ambition Model has grown into a tool used worldwide. In four languages! And we are quite proud of that. Teamwork is key, and since this year, Floris Stokkers has also been enthusiastically contributing.

In March of this year, we gave a presentation on the Ambition Model at the IIA GAM (Great Audit Minds) conference in Las Vegas. With the help of other enthusiastic volunteers and subject matter experts, the Ambition Model has been further expanded with the topics of Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity, aligning with the new GIAS. The launch is scheduled for the end of June 2024 during the IIA congress, and we hope to have an enthusiastic group of early adopters!

The Ambition Model was initially set up in English to reach as broad an audience as possible, even though we ourselves do not work in an international setting. When the opportunity arose for a European launch, we took preparation very seriously. We spent a few days with the nuns in Vught to brush up on our English, and we were also given the opportunity by CZ to attend a training session with a theater producer, enabling us to confidently deliver the message to a large audience.

Even though there’s still a bit of healthy tension with a new presentation, we really enjoy doing this together and have become well-attuned to each other. It feels like a reward for the many hours this committee work entails. It’s not just about the content, but also about preparing communication to members, the board, setting up and maintaining the European Usergroup, and our network with IIA Global. The work is very diverse and educational, and it’s a great way to apply knowledge and experience from our professional practices at CZ and Achmea.

The Ambition Model is developed for internal auditors, by internal auditors. If you have questions, feedback, or would like to share a good practice, please email us at ambition@iia.nl.