Welcome to Internal Audit Awareness Month

Together, let's make Internal Audit Awareness Month 2025 a global success!

Primary Objective: Increase awareness of the Internal Audit profession to a wider audience.

Secondary objective:Introduce the profession to a wider audience, including students, key stakeholders, fringe membership bodies, your wider team, and those around you. Highlight the value of the Internal Audit function to an organisation’s directors, boards, and committees.

At IIA NZ, we celebrate Global Internal Audit Awareness Month in May, a perfect opportunity to showcase both yourself and the Internal Audit profession. This month, let’s come together to raise awareness, educate others, and highlight the tremendous value that Internal Auditors bring to organisations. Let’s make this a memorable month for the Internal Audit profession!

Here in New Zealand, we strengthen our voice as Internal Auditors by offering numerous avenues to support our members and grow the profession. These include the IIA NZ Training Programme in collaboration with Massey University, the IIA NZ Mentorship Programme (featuring the Emerging Auditors, Auditor in Charge, and Audit Leaders Network Forums), and our Regional Ambassador Programme, where members actively support each other in the regions.

While it’s crucial to promote the value of Internal Audit year-round, we place a special emphasis on championing the profession during Internal Audit Month. Together, these efforts play a vital role in the ongoing development and visibility of the Internal Audit profession, helping to shape its future and ensure its continued success.

Building Awareness

Many professions enjoy an inherently universal understanding of their value. Most people understand the role of a doctor, for example, so a campaign designed to build awareness of what doctors do is generally not necessary. Unfortunately, this may not be true for the internal audit profession. In fact, even internal auditors' close friends and family don't understand exactly what an internal auditor does.

The aim of Internal Audit Awareness Month is not only to dispel misperceptions of the profession, but also to enhance the business community's knowledge of the essential role internal auditing plays in strong organisational governance, internal control, and effective risk management. When management and boards of directors come to fully appreciate the value of internal auditing, they ensure the internal audit activity is adequately sourced and effectively utilised. Similarly, as the general public becomes more familiar with what internal auditors do, the number of individuals who consider it a viable career option rises, fueling the profession with greater talent.

As an internal audit professional, you play an important role in raising awareness and elevating the profession. Whether you are new to the field, part of an extensive audit team, or the sole practitioner at your organisation, there's something you can do to elevate the profession.

Vision 2035

As part of promoting Internal Auditing within your organisation, IIA NZ members can share insights from the Internal Audit: Vision 2035 – Creating Our Future Together project with their internal teams, Audit and Risk Committees (ARC), and Board. Over the past 12 months, the Internal Audit Foundation has worked collaboratively with internal auditors, stakeholders, and individuals outside the profession to create a comprehensive and integrated vision for the future of Internal Auditing. The findings from the Vision 2035 project provide a unique perspective on both the current state and the future aspirations of the profession.

In the coming decade, the internal audit profession will undergo a major transformation driven by accelerating technological advancements, significant disruptive trends, and emerging risks. This transformation will be characterised by changes in how organisations operate, the need to expand the profession’s talent pipeline, and an increase in the profession's capacity and credibility in the eyes of stakeholders to audit new and emerging risks. Sharing these discoveries can help highlight the evolving role of Internal Auditing, emphasise its strategic value, and foster a deeper understanding of how the profession will continue to drive organisational effectiveness and governance.

We highly recommend passing on the following link to your key stakeholders, as we actively promote Internal Auditing as part of Global Internal Audit Awareness Month, in May 2025.

Download the IA Vision 2035 report today and share the incredible impact of the IA profession.

The Internal Audit profession faces exciting opportunities, many of which can assist it in overcoming current challenges. Some of these opportunities include:

• Leveraging advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics to enhance audit processes and provide deeper insights.

• Expanding the profession's talent pipeline by attracting diverse skill sets and backgrounds to ensure future growth and resilience.

• Strengthening the strategic value of Internal Auditing by broadening its role in risk management, governance, and decision-making.

• Embracing emerging risks and changing organisational needs to remain agile and relevant in an evolving business landscape.

• Building stronger relationships with key stakeholders to enhance the profession's credibility and influence within the organisation.

By focusing on these opportunities, Internal Auditors can not only address current challenges but also shape a more impactful and future-proof profession.

Promoting the Profession and Building Awareness Resources

Advocacy Resources

Position Papers Position Papers assist a wide range of interested parties but are primarily designed to inform and educate internal audit stakeholders on issues of importance to The IIA and the profession. Their focus is generally related to significant governance, risk, or control issues, and delineating the associated roles and responsibilities of internal auditing. View now.
Thought Leadership Get a complimentary subscription to Tone at the Top; a bimonthly newsletter covering all governance-related topics. Subscribe.

Factsheet: Internal Audit Benefits

Information Resources

_{Thank you to IIA-Australia for generously sharing resources for members.}

Adding Value Across the Board Brochure This brochure addresses how internal auditing contributes to strong corporate governance.
All in a Day's Work Brochure This brochure addresses the varied roles of internal auditors.
Getting to Know Internal Auditing This PowerPoint presentation provides and overview of the internal audit profession. It compares internal audits to financial statement audits and identifies internal audit stakeholders, ideal reporting relationships, and more.
Value of Internal Auditing: Assurance, Insight, Objectivity This PowerPoint presentation describes the value of internal auditing to stakeholders.
Global Advocacy Platform This brochure explains The IIA's key messages and can be used to help internal audit advocates communicate those messages consistently around the world.

Further resources are available on the IIA Global 'Promote the Profession' page.

Updated 04 September 2024