Internal Audit Insights

2020-08-04 12:18:03

Cybersecurity Risks Exacerbated By the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Reciprocity

August 04, 2020

Just like every other crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has rocked the boats of most businesses. The fact that it has discouraged physical interactions has forced enterprises to embrace work from home initiatives. Most companies have had to increase their reliance on collaborative technology to keep their business operations afloat.

2020-04-26 05:00:00

Five Elements of an Effective Audit Planning Process

By Wade Brylow

April 26, 2020

After 25 years in internal audit, I have come to the conclusion that excellent audit planning is essential to ensuring an effective audit. What is a successful audit? A good measure is whether both audit management and the auditee feel good about the end results.

2020-04-06 11:44:22

How Internal Audit Leaders Are Responding to the Coronavirus Crisis

By Joseph McCafferty

April 06, 2020

Internal auditors maybe sitting in their home offices in pajamas, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hard at work on helping their organizations’ respond to the coronavirus crisis. Instead, they are shifting into high gear to deal with the onslaught of issues the pandemic has wrought.

2020-03-30 09:52:20

How to Resolve Conflicts During Audit Engagements

By Kennedy Njoroge

March 30, 2020

In the course of their work internal auditors often encounter resistance that can create friction with business units and other entities in the organization. The keys to eliminating hostilities can be found in the people, processes, communication, and relationships with audit clients.

2020-03-23 16:17:19

Conducting Risk Assessments the Total Quality Auditing Way

By Amanda “Jo” Erven

March 23, 2020

Smart companies and total quality auditors focus on inherent conflicts of interest during risk assessments, before a crisis occurs. They are not auditors who walk right by a high-risk environment on the way to audit a low-risk situation.

2020-02-17 13:51:35

Responding to Rapidly Changing Risks

By Joseph McCafferty

February 17, 2020

A more agile internal audit function that can shift focus as risks evolve and organizational needs change isn’t just the audit function of the future; it’s what is needed right now.

2019-12-16 14:39:23

Setting Priorities During Internal Audit Engagement Planning

By Eleftherios Tsintzas

December 16, 2019

A risk assessment should be conducted during the planning phase of an audit engagement in order to identify and analyze all the risks towards the achievement of the objectives of an activity.

2019-11-25 13:12:42

What Internal Auditors Need to Know About Blockchain

By Joseph McCafferty

November 25, 2019

Companies are rapidly finding applications for blockchain technology, meaning internal auditors will need to assess those applications. To do so will require some foundational knowledge of how blockchain works and the risks associated with its use.

2019-11-18 12:30:21

Demystifying Risk Culture Assurance

By Justin Greenstein & Gavin Freeman

November 18, 2019

Risk culture is no longer perceived to be a compliance box to be ticked. Companies are lifting the lid on cultural and behavioral issues that affect the way people make decisions and manage risks as part of their day-to-day work.

2019-10-28 10:18:48

The Evolution of HR Audits

By Ronald Adler

October 28, 2019

HR audits have evolved from a simple checklist of dos and don’ts or periodic affirmative action plans to a comprehensive, sustainable process that is an integral part of the organization’s internal controls, due diligence, and risk management function.

2019-09-23 13:10:30

How Total Quality Auditing Can Help Internal Audit Achieve Excellence

By Amanda “Jo” Erven

September 23, 2019

Could a decades-old management strategy that helped U.S. and European companies respond to the gains in quality made by Japanese manufacturers in the 1980s somehow help internal audit shops improve their game?

2019-09-10 05:45:58

How Internal Audit Can Better Convey Risks Using a Heat Map

By Joseph McCafferty

September 10, 2019

A definitive guide to producing, using, and improving a risk heat map at your organization.

2019-07-23 05:10:57

How Internal Auditors Can Give and Receive Feedback

By Hernan Murdock

July 23, 2019

Receiving feedback is an essential element in every internal auditors’ development. In this feature article, MISTI's Dr. Hernan Murdock provides seven key practices that should be part of this process to make it most effective.

2019-07-02 05:50:41

Nine Essential Skills for Internal Audit Success

By Hernan Murdock

July 02, 2019

Those entering the internal audit and compliance professions often wonder what they need to do to succeed in their new careers. There is a lot to learn. In fact, the general advice is to become lifelong learners. But there is also the constant pressure from within the department. Here, MISTI's Dr. Hernan Murdock lists nine skills and actions essential for success.

2019-04-23 05:15:30

How to Beat Robots When Performing COSO-Based Reviews

By Hernan Murdock

April 23, 2019

Robots are having a growing influence on organizational practices and this dynamic is of great interest to internal auditors and compliance professionals who examine the impact of these technologies on organizational objectives, risks and controls. But they also present a growing concern as the work performed by internal auditors may be replaced by machines.

2019-04-02 05:25:29

An Expanded View of the Performance Audit Scope

By Hernan Murdock

April 02, 2019

Performance auditing is the review of a program or process, and the systems supporting it, to determine whether it is achieving the primary goals of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy in its use of available resources. These reviews are often done in government and non-profit entities, but they are equally important in the for-profit sector.

2019-03-28 05:58:43

How to Quantify the Economic Costs and Benefits of Controls

By Hernan Murdock

March 28, 2019

To become trusted advisors to management it would help if we spoke the same language they do. While auditors and compliance professionals often talk in terms of controls, and increasingly in terms of risk, managers and business leaders often talk in terms of costs, benefits, revenue, reputation, and market share.

2019-03-12 05:19:54

The Many Benefits of Rotation Programs

By Hernan Murdock

March 12, 2019

As business processes become more complex, information more widely dispersed, and the risk environment more complicated, the need for internal auditors to adapt to this new environment becomes imperative. This is where rotation programs can really save the day.

2019-03-05 05:26:55

Why Symposiums Promote Collaborative Learning in Internal Audit

By Hernan Murdock

March 05, 2019

Internal auditors must engage in lifelong learning. They are increasingly participating in webinars, consuming online content, and listening to podcasts. While all of these actions are conducive to learning, there is another learning opportunity that many internal auditors and compliance professionals may not be familiar with: Symposiums.

2019-02-19 05:42:19

Auditing The Supply Chain in 2019: What to Know and Why

By Karen Kroll

February 19, 2019

Much internal audit work has focused on financial transactions and controls. Now, many auditors are adding supply chain audits to their responsibilities. In this feature article, we've broken down some of the common risks associated with supply chains.

2019-01-31 05:40:39

How Internal Audit Can Get Innovative

By Hernan Murdock

January 31, 2019

In internal audit, the methodologies of the past may have made the organization successful, but there is no guarantee that those same procedures will lead to success in the future. In this featured article, MISTI's Dr. Hernan Murdock highlights some examples of ways that innovation can help internal auditors, but most importantly, outlines how they can get started.

2019-01-15 05:54:28

Becoming a Risk Assessment Unicorn

By Steve DeSantis

January 15, 2019

You’ve read a bazillion articles on data analytics theory (ho-hum) in auditing. And we'll be the first to say that we've written a variety on this site. But this time around, let’s focus on how to actually use those data analytics in a single audit area: risk assessments.

2019-01-08 05:57:36

How Your Organization Can Benefit From Internal Audit Rotation Programs

By Hernan Murdock

January 08, 2019

As business processes become more complex, information more widely dispersed, and the risk environment more complicated, the need for internal auditors to adapt to this new environment becomes imperative.

2018-12-13 05:18:05

Implementing Your Audit Department’s Top Technological Audit Practices

By Marcos Colón

December 13, 2018

Data analytics is being leveraged more than ever by internal audit departments, but for those that haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, this interview with CVS Health's head of data analytics explains the benefits, challenges, and misconceptions tied to the technology.

2018-11-29 05:18:16

The Low Down on Integrated Auditing

By Marcos Colón

November 29, 2018

In this video interview with Internal Audit Insights, Constance Snelling, director of IT risk at Jackson National Life, offers up the essential skills that are needed to be a successful IT auditor today and how this ties into performing an integrated audit.

2018-11-20 05:23:27

How to Use Balanced Scorecards to Measure the Performance of Internal Audit Departments

By Hernan Murdock

November 20, 2018

The balanced scorecard is a system used to make sure business operations are aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy. Since it uses several measures to determine success, it helps those involved to balance what is achieved with how it is achieved. Here's how.

2018-11-13 05:18:04

4 Strategies to Head up Risk Management in your Company

By Sarah Swanson

November 13, 2018

As auditors, we all know that internal audit is uniquely positioned to understand where risks lay within an organization. But sometimes audit doesn’t get the opportunity to communicate the company’s risks to a broader audience. Here, we share a few ideas to help internal audit build bridges between knowing, communicating, and fixing risk in a company.

2018-10-30 05:04:50

Balancing the Risks of Today with an Eye on the Risks of Tomorrow

By Alec Arons

October 30, 2018

A great deal has changed over the years when it comes to risk, including the willingness and interest of CAE’s, Audit Committees and Boards to talk about risk. As part of the increase in dialogue relating to risk and risks on the horizon much has been written and discussed. Here, Experis's Alec Arons consolidates that information.

2018-10-23 05:53:55

Using Histograms to Better Understand Data

By Hernan Murdock

October 23, 2018

Histograms are a very powerful tool to analyze data because they show the distribution of a continuous variable in a diagram and their appearance is similar to bar graphs. In this feature article, MISTI's Dr. Hernan Murdock explains how internal auditors can leverage them.

2018-10-18 05:39:10

The IT Audit Checklist for Emerging Risks

By Sarah Swanson

October 18, 2018

Many organizations are still failing to effectively audit areas such as cloud security or even social media. So what areas should you be covering and why? This article answers questions tied to that topic. Here you'll find the top IT risks that consistently vex companies and protect your assets.

2018-10-16 05:27:49

How to Make Findings and Recommendations More Persuasive

By Hernan Murdock

October 16, 2018

Persuasion is an important aspect of internal auditing that doesn’t receive enough attention or coverage. Internal audit's job is to verify that conditions and practices are as expected, and to identify opportunities for improvement within organizations. But how does persuasion play into this?

2018-10-11 05:21:08

Can Internal Auditors Perform Advisory Reviews While Remaining Independent?

By Nancy Luquette

October 11, 2018

Is serving as an advisor and maintaining internal audit’s essential responsibility of objectivity, free of management influence, possible? Spoiler alert: Yes. And it’s both necessary and crucial to the internal audit profession’s standing in any organization.

2018-09-25 05:07:21

Assessing Cyber Risk: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

By Stephen Head

September 25, 2018

Measurably reducing cyber risk in the business is an obstacle nearly all organizations face today. Needless to say, it's critical for businesses to conduct cyber risk assessments. In this contributed article by Experis' Stephen Head, he dives into the topic.

2018-09-06 05:56:49

Adapting to the New Normal of Internal Audit

By Imran Zia

September 06, 2018

Rapidly accelerating pressures are fueling the need for the internal audit profession to transform its thinking from being financial controls-centric to shareholder value-centric. Here's how internal auditors can adapt to this "new normal."

2018-08-21 05:26:30

How Internal Auditors Can Leverage the Balanced Scorecard

By Hernan Murdock

August 21, 2018

The balanced scorecard is a system used for planning and management to make sure business operations are aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy. In this featured article, MISTI's Dr. Hernan Murdock explains how you can use it to your advantage.

2018-08-16 05:58:29

Training the Internal Auditors of Tomorrow

By Karen Kroll

August 16, 2018

As the business world changes at an accelerating rate, auditors need to keep up or risk becoming irrelevant and unable to provide the insight that will allow their organizations to succeed. That means they’ll need to continually add to their skills and knowledge.

2018-08-09 05:32:43

Internal Audit Data Analysis Using Benford’s Law

By Hernan Murdock

August 09, 2018

Organizations are accumulating large amounts of data and internal auditors are rapidly increasing their mining for, and use of, these sizable data sets. This proliferation of data raises the question of how to extract meaning from it all.

2018-07-31 05:24:57

Audit Writer’s Hub: 3 Steps to Improve Risk Statements

By Sarah Swanson

July 31, 2018

If you’ve ever read or written a sentence along the lines of “Financial misstatement could lead to financial loss,” or “Non-compliance with policies” (what does that even mean anyway?), then read on for some tips to improve the risk statement.

2018-07-17 05:53:14

Being Creative While Conducting Internal Audits

By Hernan Murdock

July 17, 2018

Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas, but it's not that important for internal auditing. Given that reporting rules and regulations are non-negotiable, there is little room for creativity and original ideas, right? Wrong! Here's what you can do to be creative while conducting audits.

2018-07-10 05:52:26

Rotational Auditing and Fishing

By Sarah Swanson

July 10, 2018

Rotational auditing has been a fishing hole for years. The pros and cons have been fished around too. And then fished around some more. Auditors have a way of fishing. But paddling deeper into audit's consulting water, rotational auditing could provide a venue for teaching risk awareness.

2018-07-05 05:51:17

IT Audit Should Consider These Third-Party Risk Traps

By Marcos Colón

July 05, 2018

TalaTek’s Baan Alsinawi provides an update on the state of third-party risk management as it relates to IT auditors and sheds light on the hidden traps they should look out for as it relates to trusted business partners.

2018-06-28 05:44:33

How IT Audit Can Break Down Communication Silos

By Marcos Colón

June 28, 2018

Escoute Consulting President Mark Thomas dives into the topic of communication challenges within the enterprise, why they exist among IT audit and cybersecurity, and the steps you can take to ensure those silos are broken down.

2018-06-21 05:30:06

Who Owns Risk at the End of the Day?

By Marcos Colón

June 21, 2018

Fastpath’s Keith Goldschmidt discusses who the real owners of risk are within the enterprise, but also offers up insight on what IT audit can do to help streamline communication and do their part in creating a “risk culture” within the business.

2018-04-17 05:56:27

Essential Steps to Tackling Vendor Risk Management

By Sarah Swanson

April 17, 2018

Internal audit is positioned to help evaluate risk that arises from working with vendors. Here we outline steps for determining which vendors to audit and what to focus on during the audit.

2018-02-27 06:05:22

How Audit Can Support the Incident Response Plan

By Sarah Swanson

February 27, 2018

Response plans vary somewhat. But here we'll focus on giving you the best insight on how the internal audit function can provide support for the business's incident response plan. Here's a look at some proven tips that can help you get started.

2018-02-06 06:11:49

What COSO’s Revised ERM Framework Means for Internal Audit

By Marcos Colón

February 06, 2018

In this interview featuring Bob Hirth, Chairman at COSO, he sheds light on the recent updates made to the COSO ERM framework, discusses what those changes mean for internal auditors, and advises on how to best leverage the framework.

2018-01-26 06:26:47

An Internal Auditor's Guide to Social Media

By Sarah Swanson

January 26, 2018

Within a communications group, chances are that someone is performing a level of auditing of weekly or monthly online analytics already. But it doesn’t hurt to talk to these people and fill in any gaps you discover. How effective is your social media presence and how do you audit it? This article should get you started on auditing social media within a larger audit.

2018-01-11 10:53:21

Beyond Root-Cause Analysis: Helping Internal Audit Clients Prevent Mistakes

By Hernan Murdock

January 11, 2018

At times, internal auditors don't explain to their clients that processes should be built to operate error-free. Even when controls detect errors, customers report gaffes, or sheer luck saves the day, these events often cause re-work. Here's what you can do to help your clients prevent mistakes.

2017-12-28 07:47:48

How to Make Sure Every Audit Focuses on What Matters Most

By Hernan Murdock

December 28, 2017

An audit is a complex undertaking that requires internal auditors to examine documents, speak with employees, observe business practices, and evaluate controls in business programs and processes.

2017-12-21 05:57:00

How to Manage Outside Audits Performed on Your Organization

By Marcos Colón

December 21, 2017

Raytheon's Thomas Sanglier discusses the positive impact that the internal audit function can make when it comes to handling outside audits, the challenges this task can present, and how to overcome them.

2017-12-19 06:16:36

Stayin’ Alive with Integrated Auditing

By Sarah Swanson

December 19, 2017

For those that do integrated audits, the concept is a no-brainer. Integrated audits are an efficient, holistic approach to the business. But, if the idea of integrated auditing is untapped, then it’s a brave new world to check out. Below are some points to get the conversation started in your company.

2017-11-28 06:15:25

What Every Audit Customer is Thinking, But Won't Ever Say

By Sarah Swanson

November 28, 2017

Change is hard no matter what. We’re more apt to change when we’ve made the rules. When we’re forced to change – like being subjected to an audit – that’s a large horse pill to swallow. But there are things that auditors can do to make that horse pill go down smoother.

2017-11-14 06:37:11

Do We Understand What a Risk Event Is?

By Norman Marks

November 14, 2017

People talk about a risk event as if it is obvious what it is and what it means. But that's certainly not always the case.

2017-10-09 06:10:58

Understand the Objective of Your Audit, Or Fail

By William Nealon

October 09, 2017

To have a successful audit outcome, it’s imperative to understand the objective of your audit. Keeping your focus on the end result is imperative.

2017-09-26 06:27:00

It’s Time to Put a Little More Management in Your Risk Management

By Richard Archer

September 26, 2017

Just because a company has a robust risk management system in place doesn't guarantee that it will actually manage risk well. An ineffective manager will mismanage risks, no matter how strong the risk management system is.

2017-09-07 06:00:00

Testing Key Controls

By Peter Yi

September 07, 2017

Auditors who can implement any one of the following strategies should yield both improved control coverage and lower costs.

2017-08-24 09:00:23

Leveraging SOX Risk Assessment Practices for Better ERM

By Matt Kelly

August 24, 2017

15 years into the SOX compliance era, more boards, CEOs, and risk managers want to leverage all that investment and spring into ERM.

2017-08-10 06:51:49

Five Reasons to Audit the Risk Management Function

By Joe Underwood

August 10, 2017

An audit of the risk management function should be among the first priorities for a chief audit executive as it may spur new ideas and prompt improvement in how risks are managed.

2017-08-08 07:00:48

Four Communication Tips to Increase Internal Auditor Effectiveness

By Tom O'Reilly

August 08, 2017

Why do some internal auditors effectively prepare workpapers and write audit reports with ease, yet stumble when it comes to most other forms of communication?

2017-07-25 07:20:07

Seven Keys to a Better CAE

By Tom O'Reilly

July 25, 2017

The following seven CAE best practices may help you both better position your team to improve the performance during each of their projects and better position internal audit as a go-to resource for business leaders.

2017-07-06 07:51:49

What Internal Auditors Must Do To Remain Relevant

By Hernan Murdock

July 06, 2017

As internal auditors, we work in complex and demanding environments where business, social, and other dynamics challenge us to meet the increasing expectations of upstream management.

2017-06-28 07:02:15

Six Ways Internal Auditors Should Use the 3LOD Model

By Tom O'Reilly

June 28, 2017

The CAE who successfully uses the 3LOD model during important conversations should experience better business relationships and have less resistance to their recommended changes.

2017-06-20 11:30:00

These Internal Auditors Aren’t Afraid to Get a Little Dirty

By Joseph McCafferty

June 20, 2017

When Woodforest National Bank wanted to test whether employees were properly destroying physical data, it hit on an idea that would require internal auditors to roll up their sleeves and get messy.

2017-06-19 17:20:00

Five Common Opportunities for Leveraging an ERM Initiative

By Joseph McCafferty

June 19, 2017

Most companies that have embarked on an enterprise risk management (ERM) initiative are still in the earliest stages or have struggled to demonstrate benefits. Here are five opportunities to enhance ERM and add value.

2017-05-25 07:13:00

Six Risk Resources You May Not Be Using, But Should

By Tom O'Reilly

May 25, 2017

One telling sign of a maturing internal audit department is when the CAE proposes audit topics that are organizationally-focused around key projects and initiatives.

2017-05-17 10:07:00

Top Internal Audit Concerns and Priorities for 2017

By Joseph McCafferty

May 17, 2017

A podcast interview with Ed Williams, senior manager for risk advisory services at Experis Finance, on the 2017 Internal Audit Planning and Staffing Priorities Report.

2017-04-13 21:23:24

Four Internal Audit Lessons from the United Airlines Viral Video Fiasco

By Joseph McCafferty

April 13, 2017

United Airlines is no stranger to viral videos and social media kerfuffles that cast the company in a poor light.

2017-04-10 10:30:00

Is Internal Audit Neglecting Environmental, Health, and Safety Risks?

By Joseph McCafferty

April 10, 2017

A new report from the IIA finds many companies could do more to provide assurance over EHS.

2017-04-04 10:07:00

Auditing the Online Marketing Program

By Joseph McCafferty

April 04, 2017

We recently spoke to Dan Tsang, director of internal audit of Expedia, about why companies should audit the digital marketing program and how to get started on such an audit.

2017-03-30 12:04:01

Eight Things the Board and C-Suite Want from Internal Audit

By Joseph McCafferty

March 30, 2017

Internal auditors realize they must pay closer attention to what their stakeholders—namely boards and executive management—expect of them and whether these expectations are being met.

2017-03-23 10:30:00

A Day in the Life of an Internal Audit Supervisor

By Joseph McCafferty

March 23, 2017

Internal Auditor Spotlight with Devin Potter, a Supervisor in the Risk Advisory Services business at RSM. We recently sat down with Devin to talk about the internal audit profession.

2017-02-06 10:30:00

Study Finds Fractured Approach to Risk Management

By Joseph McCafferty

February 06, 2017

A new report from the Ponemon Institute finds that many companies lack a cohesive approach to risk management.

2017-01-18 11:30:00

Audit Committees Unhappy with Risk Management Programs

By Joseph McCafferty

January 18, 2017

More than eight years removed from the start of the financial crisis that caused a full-on risk management freak-out across Corporate America, it appears risk management programs are still not up to snuff.

2016-12-22 11:20:00

The Top 10 MISTI Internal Audit Articles of 2016

By Joseph McCafferty

December 22, 2016

It's been a busy year for internal audit. Below are the top 10, most read articles from MISTI's Internal Audit Insights for 2016.

2016-12-19 11:30:00

Elevating Critical IT Risks to the Board and C-Suite

By Joseph McCafferty

December 19, 2016

Communicating top risks to the board and C-suite is always tricky since it's such a critical area of involvement by the highest levels of the organization.

2016-12-14 08:30:00

Keeping Employees from Gaining Unauthorized Access to Inside Information

By Joseph McCafferty

December 14, 2016

A former IT staffer at Expedia was recently charged with trading on non-public information. Could it happen at your company?

2016-12-07 08:30:00

How Much Cyber-Risk Should We Take?

By Joseph McCafferty

December 07, 2016

Where should we be on the spectrum between unlimited spending on cybersecurity and doing nothing at all?

2016-12-06 11:30:00

Pre-Implementation Audits: Waterfall vs. Agile

By Joseph McCafferty

December 06, 2016

A conversation with Sheryl Austin, a director of information security and risk management at Johnson & Johnson on pre-implementation audits.

2016-11-29 09:00:00

Understanding Risk: Calibrating Your Gambler’s Mindset

By Joseph McCafferty

November 29, 2016

During the Risk Management Summit attendees will use gameplay to gain a better understanding of probability and uncertainty and how they affect risk-taking.

2016-11-04 11:30:00

How Silos Can Cause Risk-Management Headaches

By Joseph McCafferty

November 04, 2016

We recently caught up with Michael Gallagher, managing director at CBIZ Risk & Advisory Services, to talk about how risk silos can crop up at companies, the dangers they present, and how organizations can dismantle them and manage risk in a more holistic way.

2016-10-24 11:30:00

A Revolution in Risk Management

By Norman Marks

October 24, 2016

The management of risk, whether you call it enterprise risk management, strategic risk management, or something else, is about helping an organization achieve its objectives.

2016-10-12 11:30:00

Continuous Risk Assessment, Emerging Risks Top Priorities

By Joseph McCafferty

October 12, 2016

As internal auditors begin the process of planning audits for 2017, they are also looking to refine that planning process, which, of course, depends a great deal on risk assessment. With an intense focus on adding value, risk assessment and audit planning are as important as ever.

2016-10-04 16:00:00

Four Big Challenges Facing Internal Audit

By Joseph McCafferty

October 04, 2016

FedEx Chief Audit Executive Robert King on what internal audit departments need to do to rise to the occasion.

2016-09-20 09:07:00

Unpacking the Wells Fargo Phony Accounts Debacle

By Joe McCafferty

September 20, 2016

As the fallout from the Wells Fargo fraud case continues, several questions still linger. Chief among them is if CEO John Stumpf will continue to hang on to his job.

2016-09-07 09:07:00

How Internal Audit Can Be a Force for Good

By Joseph McCafferty

September 07, 2016

It's not often that you hear about auditors and accountants in the same breath as aid workers, healthcare providers, or charity workers. Indeed, you won't find internal audit on Forbes' list of the 25 Most Meaningful Professions.

2016-08-24 11:50:00

What Constitutes a Good Risk Culture?

By Joseph McCafferty

August 24, 2016

Everyone knows that culture is set at the highest levels of the organization. We may all be tired of hearing about "tone at the top," but it's never been more important. Apart from influencing the culture of the organization as a whole, executives—especially the CEO—have a big role to play in setting the risk culture.

2016-08-03 09:20:00

Add Internal Audit to Your List of Followers

By Karen Kroll

August 03, 2016

Social media sites are becoming a bigger part of most companies' plans to connect with customers and other stakeholders. Now internal audit departments are taking a closer look at those risks and the controls companies are instituting to manage them.

2016-07-26 11:07:00

Auditing the Incident Response Plan

By Joseph McCafferty

July 26, 2016

No organization is 100 percent safe from hacks, cybercrime, or boneheaded employee actions that can expose the company to data breaches. Most companies have shifted from a purely prevention mindset to one of a risk-based approach to cybersecurity with a robust incident response plan.

2016-07-06 12:30:00

Tools to Help Identity Governance Are Becoming More Vital

By Joseph McCafferty

July 06, 2016

What if access to our online bank accounts was managed the same way we manage access to information systems at work? Would we know who can get into our accounts? Who could see how much we have in what accounts? Who could take money out?

2016-06-22 12:30:00

How Internal Auditors Can Provide More Value to the Organization

By Joseph McCafferty

June 22, 2016

MISTI’s Joseph McCafferty sat down with Analog Devices' Tom O’Reilly at Audit World 2016 in Boston to discuss the latest trends impacting internal auditors.

2016-05-18 12:00:00

What We Worry About When We Worry About GRC

By Matt Kelly

May 18, 2016

Risk assurance executives—whether they work in compliance, internal audit, risk management, IT security, or any other related function—ultimately worry about three things as they do their jobs.

2016-05-17 12:30:00

Corruption’s Toll on Companies Takes Many Forms

By Joseph McCafferty

May 17, 2016

Companies are paying a huge price for worldwide corruption and bribery, even if they are adopting practices to fight against it. That's because the cost of corruption takes many forms, including loss of business to less scrupulous companies, and regulatory requirements.

2016-04-20 13:00:00

Ending the Risk Assurance Turf Wars

By Matt Kelly

April 20, 2016

Office politics and turf wars are a fact of corporate life. They are also among the most dangerous forces an organization can face, because they pit employees against each other and lead individuals to put their own or their departments' interests ahead of the business as a whole.

2016-03-16 12:00:00

Internal Auditors Assuming More Strategic Roles

By Joseph McCafferty

March 16, 2016

Internal auditors are making progress at carving out a more strategic role for themselves and are gaining influence with management and the board at their organizations, according to a new report out earlier this month.

2016-03-09 13:00:00

Four Common Contributors to Vendor-Management Risk

By Joseph McCafferty

March 09, 2016

As Donald Trump is quickly finding out, when you outsource business processes you incur risk. And these days there are few companies, if any, that don’t outsource at least some parts of their business.

2016-03-02 13:30:00

Dusting Off Those Continuous Auditing Plans

By Joseph McCafferty

March 02, 2016

Back in 1980, a popular accounting magazine asked: "Are we ready for continuous auditing?" That publication is no longer in circulation, but decades later, this question remains relevant.

2016-02-18 08:00:00

Hallmarks of a World-Class IT Audit Shop

By Fred Roth

February 18, 2016

As the use of information technology continues to proliferate so do the associated risks organizations face.

2016-02-17 17:00:00

Survey Suggests Internal Audit Slow to Address Emerging Risks

By Joseph McCafferty

February 17, 2016

A new survey from the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) suggests that internal audit departments are not changing fast enough to address emerging risks that lie outside the traditional purview of internal audit.

2016-02-11 16:07:00

High-Speed Growth Shouldn't Mean High Risk

By Joseph McCafferty

February 11, 2016

The San Francisco-based company, which provides online tools to help small businesses manage their human resources and employee benefits functions, forced out its founder and CEO, Parker Conrad.

2016-02-03 16:07:00

When Controls Do More Harm Than Good

By Joseph McCafferty

February 03, 2016

In this podcast, Joseph McCafferty, head of audit content at the MIS Training Institute, talks with Brian Barnier, a principal at ValueBridge Advisors and an OCEG fellow, about the role of controls in audit and risk management and their limitations.

2016-01-29 12:02:00

Internal Audit to Lean More on Outside Providers

By Joseph McCafferty

January 29, 2016

A new study from the Institute of Internal Auditors finds that 56 percent of the North American executives surveyed said their companies use third parties for some internal audit activity.

2016-01-21 09:14:00

The Hallmarks of a Good (External) Audit

By Joseph McCafferty

January 21, 2016

How can we tell if the external auditors are doing a good job? Often we can’t. Lots of companies have had large accounting and fraud issues blow up shortly after the external auditors issued a clean audit opinion.

2016-01-13 03:28:00

Buyers Beware: Supply Chain Risks Intensifying

By Joseph McCafferty

January 13, 2016

It’s every company’s worst nightmare: A call comes into corporate communications from a reporter from 60 Minutes looking for a comment for a damaging piece they are airing in few weeks.