In the accounting profession, becoming an internal auditor can offer endless growth opportunities, but before you dive into this accounting career path, you probably have questions, like, what is an internal auditor? What does an internal auditor do? What jobs are available? We're answering those questions and more to help you build a successful career in internal auditing.
What is an internal auditor?
Internal auditors are finance and accounting professionals who use their industry and auditing expertise to provide independent, objective evaluations of financial and operational activities. This is to ensure that a company remains compliant with laws and regulations, mitigates risks, and meets organizational goals.1
What does an internal auditor do?
Internal auditors have a big responsibility to provide the management of their companies with independent, risk-based, and objective assurance, advice, insight, and foresight.1
They perform this function by reviewing and analyzing reports, processes, and data to find any places that are inefficient or unaligned with regulations and correct these areas quickly, before an external audit or third-party intervention.2
Daily tasks within this role include:
- Ensuring law and regulation compliance within the organization
- Objectively evaluating IT and/or business processes
- Suggesting improvements to internal controls, processes, efficiency, and services
- Assessing risks, risk management methods, and asset protection
- Promoting ethics and ethical practices
- Looking for signs of, or investigating, fraud
- Creating reports for internal management and stakeholders on audit results
- Communicating findings, best practices, and recommendations for improvement
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Why is an internal auditor important?
Internal auditors are incredibly valuable for any organization, helping companies:3
- Successfully achieve objectives
- Improve governance, risk management, and control processes
- Make and oversee decisions
- Enhance reputation and credibility with stakeholders
- Avoid incompliance and its consequences
Internal auditor skills
When digging deeper into the question, "what is an internal auditor?" we have to consider the skills required. Being an internal auditor requires that you develop your auditing skillsets and continue refining your knowledge throughout your career.
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA®) is the standard-setter for the internal auditing profession. As the governing body of the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) credential, the gold standard for internal auditors, The IIA® defines this competency framework for essential skills that internal auditors need to thrive:4
Professionalism
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| Leadership and communication
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Internal auditor vs External auditor
Internal and external auditors share some of the same skillsets, as they both share auditing functions and need an in-depth knowledge of auditing best practices. However, there are distinctions between internal and external auditor career paths.
Internal auditor | External auditor |
| Internal company employees focusing only on that organization | Employees of third-party firm, government, or agency with many clients |
| Multiple, small, focused audits throughout the year | Single annual, general audit |
| Generate reports for internal management | Generate reports for external entities (SEC, investors, shareholders, etc.) |
| Can also serve as internal consultants | Prohibited from providing attestation and consultation services |
Internal auditor job opportunities
Like all career paths, you can begin as an entry-level internal auditor and work your way up through experience, certifications, and continuing professional education (CPE) to upper-level management roles.
Job opportunities for those just starting out in internal auditing may include:6
- Internal audit assistant
- Junior analyst
- Risk consulting associate
- Audit staff member
To grow your career and expertise, you can earn the international gold standard credential for internal auditors, the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certification. Likewise, even if you plan to work as an internal auditor, earning your Certified Public Accounting (CPA) license will equip you with the skillset and authority to advance in this field. These credentials will open many more job opportunities for you, including:
- Compliance analyst
- Sr. internal auditor
- Team lead, compliance
- Sr. IT auditor
- Audit manager
Part of maintaining your CIA and CPA credentials in good standing requires that you complete annual CPE learning. This gives you the chance to expand and deepen your skillsets and specialize within the field. You can take audit courses, of course, as well as learn more in data and technical subjects, a specific industry, or leadership and team management areas. This will help you earn job titles such as:
- CFO
- Internal audit director
- Audit team leader
- Audit manager
- Financial director
Learn more with Becker
So what is an internal auditor? It may be your next career? We understand that getting started on your career journey can be overwhelming—but don’t let that stop you from achieving your goals! Get Becker support, starting with answering all your questions about the CPA Exam, earning your CPA license, and all that you can do as a CPA.
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- https://www.theiia.org/en/about-us/about-internal-audit/
- https://www.accounting.com/careers/internal-auditor/
- https://www.theiia.org/en/about-us/about-internal-audit/
- https://www.theiia.org/en/resources/internal-audit-competency-framework/competencies-and-career-level/
- https://linfordco.com/blog/what-is-an-internal-auditor/
- https://jobs.accaglobal.com/jobs/internal-audit/entry-level/