For many years, Internal Audit was seen primarily as a function focused on assurance, compliance and control. Its role was to identify risks, test processes and provide confidence that the right controls were in place. All of that remains important, but the expectations placed on Internal Audit have changed significantly.
Today, businesses increasingly want more from their Internal Audit teams. They are looking for professionals who can challenge the business constructively, understand commercial priorities and identify opportunities to improve the way an organisation operates. In many cases, Internal Audit is becoming much more closely aligned with strategy, transformation, technology and wider business performance.
From our perspective as recruiters working closely with employers and candidates across the North West, this is one of the most interesting developments within the profession. The strongest Internal Audit functions are no longer simply looking backwards at what has happened. They are helping businesses understand what could happen next and how they can respond.
Internal Audit will always have a responsibility to provide independent assurance and identify potential risks. That is fundamental to the function. What is changing is the expectation around the value that sits alongside that assurance.
An effective Internal Auditor should not simply identify that a control is missing or that a process is not operating as intended. They should be able to understand why the issue exists, what impact it could have on the wider organisation and what practical steps could be taken to improve it.
That requires a much broader understanding of the business.
An auditor looking at a particular process, for example, may identify an inefficiency that is creating unnecessary cost, a technology gap that could increase risk or a process that could be redesigned as part of a wider transformation programme. The value comes not just from identifying the issue, but from helping the business understand what it means and what it can do about it.
This is where Internal Audit starts to become a genuine strategic business partner.
We are increasingly seeing employers looking for auditors who can operate comfortably outside the traditional boundaries of audit. Commercial awareness, stakeholder management, data analytics, technology, transformation and continuous improvement are all becoming more prominent in the skills employers are looking for.
Technical audit experience remains essential, particularly as professionals progress through their careers. Qualifications such as ACA, ACCA, CIMA and CIA continue to be highly relevant depending on the organisation and the nature of the role.
However, qualifications alone do not necessarily make someone a strong Internal Auditor.
One of the biggest changes we are seeing is the importance placed on softer, more commercially focused skills. Employers increasingly want people who can understand the business behind the numbers, communicate effectively with senior stakeholders and have the confidence to challenge existing ways of working.
Commercial awareness is particularly important. An auditor who understands how an organisation makes money, where it is investing and what its strategic priorities are will naturally be better placed to assess risk in context. Recommendations are much more valuable when they recognise the commercial realities facing the business.
Communication is equally important. Internal Audit can involve delivering findings that people do not necessarily want to hear, so being able to challenge constructively is a real skill. The best auditors we work with can maintain their independence while still building strong relationships across the organisation.
Technology is another area that is becoming increasingly important. Data analytics, automation and AI are changing how businesses operate and, as a result, changing the risks Internal Audit needs to consider. Auditors who are comfortable working with data and technology can bring greater insight to their work and identify patterns or risks that may previously have been difficult to spot.
Perhaps most importantly, employers are looking for curiosity. Good auditors ask questions. Great auditors keep asking them until they understand what is really happening.
For professionals considering an Internal Audit career, the changing role of the function creates some exciting opportunities.
A typical career path can start with an Internal Auditor or Junior Internal Auditor position, where the focus is on developing core technical skills and gaining experience across different areas of the business. From there, professionals can progress into Senior Internal Auditor, Internal Audit Manager and Senior Audit Manager positions before ultimately reaching Head of Internal Audit or Director-level roles.
Of course, career paths are not always quite that straightforward. Some professionals move between Internal Audit, Risk, Compliance, Controls, Finance and Transformation during their careers. That variety can actually be one of the biggest advantages of working in the profession.
Internal Audit gives people exposure to different functions, processes and parts of an organisation. Over time, that can create a remarkably broad understanding of how a business operates.
As professionals move towards management and leadership positions, the emphasis naturally changes. Early in your career, technical capability and audit delivery are likely to be the priority. As you progress, leadership, influencing, commercial judgement and strategic thinking become increasingly important.
By the time someone reaches Head of Internal Audit level, the role can look very different from the position they started in. They may be working closely with the Board, Audit Committee and senior leadership team, helping shape the audit plan around the organisation’s wider strategic and risk priorities.
Moving from Auditor to Head of Internal Audit is not simply about becoming better at auditing. It is about becoming better at understanding the business.
At junior and mid-level positions, professionals are primarily responsible for delivering audits, assessing controls, identifying risks and communicating findings. As they progress, they need to demonstrate that they can lead teams, manage relationships and influence decisions.
At Head of Internal Audit level, the focus becomes much broader. The role can involve understanding the organisation’s strategic objectives, assessing emerging risks, advising senior leadership and ensuring the Internal Audit function is focused on the areas that matter most.
That requires a combination of technical credibility and commercial confidence.
For candidates looking to progress towards senior Internal Audit positions, this is something we regularly discuss with them. It is worth considering not just what you are doing in your current role, but what experiences you are building that will make you credible for the role you want next.
Have you led a significant piece of work? Have you influenced senior stakeholders? Have you worked on a transformation programme? Have you introduced better use of data or technology? Have you helped improve a process rather than simply identified a weakness?
Those experiences can make a significant difference as your career develops.
The North West has a diverse business landscape, from large corporates and financial services organisations to private equity-backed businesses, professional services firms and rapidly growing technology companies. That means the demands placed on Internal Audit can vary considerably.
However, there are some common themes.
Employers increasingly want Internal Audit professionals who understand that their role is not to operate in isolation. They need people who can build relationships with Finance, Technology, Operations, Risk and senior leadership teams, while still maintaining the independence expected of an effective audit function.
We are also seeing greater interest in candidates who have experience of change and transformation. When a business is implementing a new system, restructuring its operating model, entering a new market or going through significant growth, the risk profile changes with it.
Internal Audit needs to be able to keep pace.
That is why we believe the most attractive candidates in the market are increasingly those who can combine strong technical audit knowledge with commercial awareness and a genuine interest in how businesses operate.
For employers, the changing role of Internal Audit also means that recruitment needs to evolve.
If the objective is simply to maintain compliance and provide assurance, a traditional technical audit profile may be exactly what is required. But if the expectation is for Internal Audit to influence strategy, support transformation and identify opportunities for improvement, the profile needs to be broader.
It is worth looking beyond qualifications and job titles and considering the behaviours behind the CV.
Can the candidate influence people? Do they understand the commercial environment? Can they communicate with senior stakeholders? Are they comfortable challenging established thinking? Do they understand technology and data? Most importantly, can they turn an audit finding into something that genuinely helps the business improve?
Those questions can be more revealing than simply looking at how many years of audit experience someone has.
The direction of travel for Internal Audit is clear. The function is becoming more connected to the wider business, and that is likely to continue as organisations become more complex and technology continues to change the way they operate.
For professionals, that creates an opportunity to build a career that extends well beyond traditional audit. The combination of technical expertise, commercial understanding, stakeholder management and strategic thinking can open doors into senior audit leadership and potentially wider roles across risk, transformation, finance and business operations.
For employers, it creates an opportunity to get considerably more value from their Internal Audit function.
The most effective teams will not simply tell the business where something has gone wrong. They will help it understand why, assess what it means and identify how it can improve.
That is the real shift we are seeing.
Internal Audit is still about assurance, risk and control, but increasingly it is also about insight, challenge and value creation. For the right people, that makes it an increasingly important function and a very interesting time to build a career within it.
If you are considering your next Internal Audit hire, or you are an Internal Audit professional thinking about where your career could go next, our specialist recruitment team would be happy to have a conversation.
In the meantime, if you’re planning a hire for Risk & Assurance in the North West and want a steer on what “good” looks like in today’s market, I’m always happy to have that conversation.
Contact me about your next hire
Oliver Cheshire – Senior Recruiter
Risk & Assurance
t: 07494984718
e: OliverCheshire@brosterbuchanan.com
