Transforming internal audit: The quest for real strategic value
To maintain a competitive edge in this increasingly complex world, CEOs and CFOs are focused on increasing shareholder value by relentlessly driving toward two overarching objectives:
How to deliver enhanced and superior value to their customers
How to lower their costs of operation
As the Chief Audit Executive (CAE), the role you play in this process is crucial.
If this is your situation
You as CAE are looking at internal audit through the same lens as other business units seeking to achieve the same strategic objectives and use the approaches and tools that were successful in transforming other parts of the business. The result sought is an internal audit function that is delivering more strategic value while lowering its costs of operation.
This migration of costs to higher value activities gives a better overall return on your organization's internal audit investment while continuing to meet both the traditional and evolving expectations of the audit committee.
How PwC can help you
PwC can help your company by taking a holistic approach that represents an enormous opportunity for your company by:
Exploiting cost-saving opportunities by adopting lean principles and tools to drive cost reductions and sustainable process improvements. We use technology as a significant enabler in this process design process redesign.
Refocusing resources on the strategic business and risk management processes whose outcomes matter most to stakeholders. This may include transformational approaches to enable internal audit to focus on identifying and then auditing the strategic risks that can truly impact shareholder value.
Achieving these results requires a team effort and strategic focus by the CAE, the C-Suite and the audit committee. After all, this isn't about incremental change. It's about transformation. If the vision of a transformational audit is embraced at the top of the organization—as select companies across industries are discovering—the results can be profound.
