Ongoing project: Strategic Development Plan for the INTOSAI Framework of Professional Pronouncements (SDP for the IFPP) 2017-2019 project 2.6: “Guidance on reliance on the work of internal auditors”.
Project lead: Internal Control Standards Subcommittee (ICS), Mr Pawel Banas (SAI Poland/ICS Chair).
Main drafting team: SAI Netherlands and SAI Belgium (covering general content + financial audit).
Reviewer: The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).
PAS project team: Mr Adrian Gogolan (SAI Romania), Ms Doris Boehler (SAI Austria), Mr Ammar Abdulla Sakini (SAI Qatar), Mr Wilfred Aquilina (European Court of Auditors) and PAS Secretariat. The PAS team´s task is to draft content related to reliance on the work of internal auditors for the conduct of performance audit, and in accordance with the 3000 series.
Excerpt from the project proposal:
“The aim is to clarify the role of public sector internal auditors in the context of an audit by a SAI and to provide clear guidance on how SAIs can assess the internal audit function in terms of relying on the IA work – or involving IA in external auditing and monitoring the IA work in case of direct assistance – hence to provide clear guidance on how SAIs may use internal audit resources to raise overall audit efficiency and quality. Guidance on understanding the internal audit function is one of the requisites to understand how the SAI can – in the most effective and efficient way – make use of the work of the internal audit. As product we propose one guidance document in the GUID 5000-5999 range of the IFPP (‘Subject specific guidance’). This project should serve all three audit types: Financial Auditing, Performance Auditing and Compliance Auditing…”
Background for PAS involvement:
Because the GUID should cover all audit types, the PAS is involved as drafters of content related specificially to using the work of internal auditors for the conduct of performance audits. The choice to get actively involved was partly based on experiences with being in a reviewer role in other projects. Generally, the committee no longer wishes to have a marginal role in projects which include guidance on performance audit.
Qualitative survey on using the work of internal auditors for the conduct of performance audit:
In the spring of 2020, a qualitative survey on the use of the work of internal auditors was conducted in the Performance Audit Subcommittee. The purpose behind the survey was to better understand the extent to which SAIs use and/or rely on the work of internal auditors for the conduct of performance audit, and to gather descriptive data to inform the GUID drafting team about experiences with, and procedures for, using the work of internal auditors. Eighteen out of 29 member SAIs responded.
The Compliance Audit Subcommittee (CAS) conducted a similar survey among CAS members at the same time.
For more information about the project see:
GUID-reliance-on-the-work-of-internal-auditors/2.6
Please read more and see survey questions:
