UK: CIIA consults on draft Internal Audit Code of Practice

The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors has today published for consultation a draft of its new Internal Audit Code of Practice: see here (pdf).  The Code is intended to become a benchmark of best practice for boards, audit committees and regulators.

The Code contains 30 recommendations, the first of which sets out the primary role of internal audit: "to help the board and executive management to protect the assets, reputation and sustainability of the organisations". The second states that the scope of the internal audit should be unrestricted: "There should be no aspect of the organisation which internal audit should be restricted from looking at as it delivers on its mandate".

There are seven consultation questions; the first question seeks views on the scope of the Code: should it focus primarily on publicly listed companies or should large private companies and third sector organisations be included?

This is not the first Code the CIIA has published. In 2013 it published guidance on effective internal audit in the financial services sector, the latest edition of which was published in 2017: see here.