In an era where disruptive change has become the norm, the need for accurate and reliable benchmarking is paramount. The IIA’s 2022 North American Pulse of Internal Audit report brings together more than a decade of survey results to reveal important trends in four key areas:

• Budget ‒ Compared to 2020, staffing budgets showed some return to normal, but travel budgets continue to have widespread, sustained cuts.
• Staff ‒ Initial COVID-related cutbacks have eased generally, but there is less willingness to increase staff levels than before the pandemic.
• Risk ‒ Technology risks and third-party risks are trending up. For the first time, sustainability risk edged upwards in the survey data.
• Audit Plan ‒ Cybersecurity is trending up on audit plans for all respondents. For publicly traded organizations, Sarbanes-Oxley is increasing steadily.

Beyond benchmarking, the Pulse report offers insights into how CAEs lead their functions, including areas of responsibility outside of internal auditing (fraud, ERM, SOX, etc.), as well as how they determine top concerns and decide how they would spend extra budget.
 
Updated with a new digital-friendly format, the Pulse report is designed to share with peers, audit committees, and executive management. 

 

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