State of Internal Audit

Trends Report 2023

Table of contents

01 15
Introduction Organisational trends

02 16 Proving internal audit’s value

18 Advisory services continue to grow
Highlights at a glance
20 Fighting fraud
22 ESG on the rise
03
About the survey 24
Technology trends
25 Analytics use still has room to grow
05 27 Continuous auditing takes hold
Top challenges for internal audit 28 Additional perspectives

07 29
Talent management trends Key takeaways
08 The talent crunch
10 The rise of remote
12 Hiring practices
www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Introduction
The last two years have for the future. And sharing our knowledge about today’s latest and most
brought significant changes important trends is equally important.
to internal audit. COVID-19
forced internal audit teams to To that end, it gives me great pleasure to present Caseware’s fifth-annual
accelerate their technology State of Internal Audit Trends Report. It looks at the key issues internal
plans to adapt to the rise of auditors face today, including talent acquisition and retention, the growth
remote workplaces. Many of ESG auditing and the use of technologies like cloud, analytics and more.
auditors have successfully It offers extensive findings based on survey responses of more than
transformed their processes 2,300 internal auditors.
by shifting work to the cloud
and other digital platforms. I invite you to view the findings and also consider the many valuable
insights provided throughout by your peers and some of the
Internal audit teams industry’s top thought leaders. Our aim is to provide you with a solid
must also cope with understanding of where the industry is, where it is going, and how you
new challenges, such as can ensure your organisation remains successful in this ever-changing
attracting and retaining industry. I hope you find it to be a source of valuable and useful
skilled auditors, new regulatory changes and Environmental, Social information for the year ahead — a year that will not be short on either
and Governance (ESG) reporting. Shifting from manual processes to challenges or excitement.
digital solutions has become increasingly important for internal auditors
seeking to keep up with growing workloads and prove internal audit’s
value to senior management. Sincerely,

Helping internal auditors keep pace with change and thrive in their
constantly transforming world is at the core of Caseware’s philosophy.
It’s crucial that we understand exactly what is changing and what new David Osborne
challenges they face as we build the technologies that prepare them CEO, Caseware

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Highlights at a glance
Adapting to new Talent is at Pressure to Analytics use still Advisory services
technologies and a premium prove value has room to grow are on the rise
processes is a
key focus Audit teams are struggling The biggest internal Just over half of internal More than 60 percent
to attract and retain skilled pressure internal auditors are using of survey respondents
Survey respondents employees in a tight auditors face by far is analytics software as part indicated the amount of
identified “moving labor market. proving their value to of their operations. advisory services their
from manual to digital their organisations. team offers to other
processes” and “adopting departments has grown
new audit technology” as over the past year.
their top two challenges.

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

About the survey

Caseware conducted the 2023 State of Internal Audit Survey in October Respondents had to provide at least one answer for each question to
and November, 2022. It was distributed in three languages — English, participate in the survey. They were also given the opportunity to write
French and Spanish — with 2,341 respondents completing the survey. additional comments for each question to offer more detail. The last
survey question allowed them to give any additional thoughts, opinions
The most common job title for survey participants was “Director of or comments about the survey or their profession. A selection of these
Internal Audit” with 23 percent, followed by “Head of Internal Audit” at comments appear throughout the report as “Peer Perspectives.” For
22 percent and “Internal Audit Manager” at 20 percent. privacy reasons, names are not included.

03
www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

22+22+20141262z
Q: What is your position?

2.26%
Other (please specify)

1.96%
5.6% Forensic Manager
Certified Fraud Expert

22.6%
Director of Internal
11.58% Audit
Chief Audit Executive

14.44%
Internal Auditor
21.79%
Head of Internal Audit

19.78%
Internal Audit Manager

04
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Top challenges for internal audit

The two biggest challenges for internal auditors to work with colleagues and clients. Audit teams  Peer Perspective
over the past two years are both technology- are being asked to do more work with the same, or
related. “Moving from manual to digital processes” fewer, resources. And boards and senior executives
“A challenge for us has
was cited as a top challenge by 38 percent of survey are seeking to enhance audit quality. Technologies
been adjusting new
respondents, while 36 percent identified “Adopting such as cloud-based platforms and analytics
systems to the audit
new audit technology” as their biggest issue. solutions are helping internal audit teams meet
processes — auditing
these challenges.
inputs and auditing
Technology adoption in internal audit is being driven
through the systems.”
by a variety of factors. More auditors are working
remotely, which requires them to use digital tools

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Q: What has been your top overall challenge in the past two years?  Industry Insight
(respondents could choose multiple answers)
“You have to be able to

37.85%
=390610 + Moving from manual to digital processes
audit the technologies
not just for how you are
using them in audit, but

=360640 +
also for how the company
35.54% Adopting new audit technology is using them in their
operations…. You need

=350650 +
people who know artificial
31.44 %
Lack of training and skills shortage intelligence. You need
people who know robotic
process automation.”

19.74 %
=330670 + Adjusting to remote work —Lenny Block, Internal
Audit Industry Expert and
Former Vice-President of

18.84%
=240760+ Deriving insights from large volumes of data
Internal Audit for Nasdaq

9.4%
=150850
+ Establishing/improving reputation, trust and credibility

1%
=40960
+ Other

06
Talent management trends

07
www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

The talent crunch

Finding and retaining talented staff is a serious Considering so few respondents did not find hiring  Peer Perspective
challenge for the majority of internal audit teams. and retaining talent to be a challenge, it is clear this
More than 95 percent of survey respondents issue is widespread and serious among internal audit
“In the public sector, you
said it was challenging to find and hire the right departments. Employing new strategies to attract
can’t always offer a salary
talent, with 42 percent saying it was “Extremely skilled staff, such as flexible remote work policies
that’s sufficient to attract
challenging” and 55 percent saying it was “Somewhat or technologies that enable auditors to work more
the right candidates.”
challenging.”Similarly, more than 90 percent of efficiently, should help alleviate a problem that is
auditors surveyed said it was challenging to retain certain to persist throughout 2023.
their existing talent. Thirty-eight percent said retaining
staff was “Extremely challenging”, while 55 percent
believed it was “Somewhat challenging.”

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Q: How challenging is it to find and hire the right talent?  Industry Insight

42+58+z 55+45+z 3+97+z

“The profession needs to do
a better job of showing young
people that accountants are
42.2% 55.36% 2.43% gatekeepers of the truth. The
younger generation wants to
find meaning in their jobs, to be
working for a purpose and/or
Extremely challenging Somewhat challenging Not challenging at all contributing to a cause.

We have to make the case that

without auditors and accountants,
companies wouldn’t perform well,
nor would they be able to operate
Q: How challenging is it to retain the talent you currently have?

38+62+z 55+45+z 7+93+z

efficiently, nor be able to find
fraud, or maintain ESG or diversity
standards. Businesses at all levels
need accountants!”
—Dr. Deniz Appelbaum, Chair and
37.76% 55.06% 7.18% Assistant Professor at Montclair
State University

Extremely challenging Somewhat challenging Not challenging at all

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

The rise of remote

The COVID-19 pandemic made remote work the norm, rather than the exception.  Peer Perspectives
And that trend doesn’t appear to be changing. Many employees now expect
to be able to work remotely at least some of the time and offering flexible work
“Working from home is now a fixed part of our lives
arrangements makes it easier for firms to attract new talent. When asked how much
and my team loves it. We are also more productive.”
of their staff worked remotely at least part of the week, 38 percent said “More than
half but not all,” with another 31 percent choosing “About half.” Only four percent of
respondents said none of their staff worked remotely.

The growth of remote work has also resulted in many organisations using talent “Post-COVID, we encourage all our staff to either
outside their immediate geographic area. More than 60 percent of respondents work at our offices or at our clients’ locations.”
already rely on outside talent and another 25 percent say they may turn to remote
workers in the future.

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13+11+2538++531++6016+2
2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Q: How much of your staff works remotely for at least part of the week?

13.28%
All staff

outside your region?

37.68%
More than half
but not all
31.01%
About half

Q: As remote work has grown, have you started to source talent from
15.68%
A few
2.35%
None

 Industry Insight

“Some companies are

dictating that employees
come back to the office
and many employees
don’t want to do that
necessarily. They want to
work from home at least
some of the time. That’s
going to make it harder to
keep people.”
11.45% 24.56% 4.53% 59.46%
— Lenny Block, Internal
No, and we No, but we may Were already doing Yes
don't plan to in the future this before the Audit Industry Expert and
pandemic Former Vice-President of
Internal Audit for Nasdaq

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Hiring practices
Organisations seeking to round out their team size. The number of survey respondents  Peer Perspectives
internal audit teams are looking for a range of indicating their team had decreased in size
different talents. Nearly 40 percent of was nearly the same as the number who said
“We were down two auditors for more
respondents are seeking project their head count had increased. And one
than two years because we couldn’t
management professionals and/or quarter of respondents said their team size
hire during the pandemic.”
information technology professionals. Not far hadn’t changed.
behind are data specialists and fraud
examiners, followed Most auditors believe their departments have a
by cybersecurity experts and artificial strong record when it comes to Diversity, Equity
“Our staff has decreased due to
intelligence specialists. and Inclusion (DEI). Only four percent described
natural attrition and people seeking
their DEI record as poor or below average, while
greener pastures.”
While internal audit departments are hoping to more than 70 percent said it was a bit above
hire for multiple roles over the next year, the average or very good.
past year saw mixed results when it came to

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Q: What roles are your internal audit department looking to add more of in the next  Peer Perspective
year? (respondents could choose more than one answer)
“We are currently not

=390610 +
looking to hire, but an
39.47 % Project management professionals auditor who can also
write code (e.g. Python)
would be the Holy Grail

37.89%
=360640 + Information technology professionals
in the future. They can
usually earn more as a
developer, though.”

35.16%
=350650 + Data specialists (data analytics, data modeling, scripting, etc.)

34.69%
=330670 + Fraud examiners

28.28%
=240760+ Cybersecurity experts

19.65%
=150850
+ Artificial intelligence specialists

2.35%
=40970
+ None of the above

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14
3625+ 382+ 3140+ 264+ 1
2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Q: Over the past year, the number of employees in your

internal audit department has:

36.18%
Increased
24.86%
Stayed
the same
37.59%
Decreased
1.37%
Not sure
Q: How would you describe your internal audit department’s
record on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)?

30.8%
Very good
39.56%
A bit above
average
25.59%
Average
3.46%
A bit below
average
0.6%
Poor
Organisational trends

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www.caseware.com 2023 State of Internal Audit Trends Report

Proving internal audit’s value

When it comes to internal pressure within “Having to do more with less time and  Peer Perspective
their organisations, auditors overwhelmingly resources” and “Meeting audit deadlines” were
cite “Proving and articulating Internal Audit’s also identified as significant internal pressures.
“Audit budgets are under pressure, so
value” as their biggest challenge, with While auditors are feeling challenged as they
getting more efficient and using the
42 percent of respondents citing it as their top switch to digital processes and adopt new
right tools and approaches is key.”
internal pressure. That’s little changed from technologies, digital solutions should ultimately
last year’s survey, where 44 percent said it allow them to accomplish more with fewer
was their top issue. resources and help them overcome their
internal pressures.

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27+24+427z
Q: What is the biggest pressure you face internally?

6.88%

Having to do more with

27.13%
less time and resources

Meeting audit
deadlines
41.86 %

Proving and articulating

Internal Audit's value

Reporting process
and quality

24.13%

 Industry Insight

“Any situation where an auditor can see ahead is valuable. Auditors will be expected to see around the corner, so to speak. Companies are
trying to assess future risk, particularly of unknown unknowns, which is another key value that can be provided by the audit function.”
— Dr. Deniz Appelbaum, Chair and Assistant Professor at Montclair State University

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Advisory services continue to grow

Organisations increasingly expect internal auditors to do more than More than 60 percent of survey respondents indicated the amount of
merely audit. They also want them to act as business advisors who advisory services their team offers to other departments had grown
help position their employers for future success. This is a positive significantly or somewhat over the past year. Only 11 percent said the
development for internal audit departments because it shows senior number of advisory services they provided had decreased.
management values the audit function and believes auditors can
deliver new insights that grow the business.

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28+38+2491z
Q: Over the past year, the amount of advisory services your internal audit team offers to other departments in the
organisation has:

0.68%
Decreased
significantly

9.65%
Decreased
somewhat
27.64%
Stayed
the same

23.71%
Increased
significantly

38.32%
Increased
somewhat

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Fighting fraud
Combating fraud remains a primary focus for almost all internal auditors. In terms of what fraud types concern internal auditors the most, “Theft of
The growth of remote and online work, combined with increasingly assets” led the way at 27 percent, followed by “Credit card abuse” at 22
sophisticated cyberattacks and instances of online fraud, means percent, “Collusion with a third party vendor or service provider” at 20
organisational risks are growing. percent and “Falsified expense reports” at 19 percent.

In the 2022 State of Internal Audit Trends Report, more than 70 percent  Peer Perspective
of respondents said the pandemic had increased fraud threats within
their organisations. Respondents to this year’s survey believe their
“We have more outsourced activity, which exposes the firm to
organisations are well-prepared to fight fraud, with more than 80
greater fraud risk.”
percent saying they are very well-, or fairly well- prepared to prevent
instances of fraud.

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Q: How well-prepared is your organisation to prevent instances of fraud from occurring?

27
22
20
19
6
5
27.08% 55.02% 16.96% 0.94%
Very well-prepared Fairly well prepared Not adequently prepared Not sure

Q: What type of fraud concerns you the most?

27.34% 22.34% 20.46% 19.18% 5.98% 4.7%

Theft of assets Credit card abuse Collusion Falsified expense Falsifying or financial Bribery
reports statements

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ESG on the rise

Audit requirements for ESG are growing as It’s no surprise that close to two-thirds of survey
regulators, investors and other stakeholders respondents said their ESG work has increased
place more emphasis on sustainability. For over the past year, with 41 percent saying “It
instance, in 2022, the U.S. Securities and has grown a little bit” and 21 percent reporting
Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule “It has grown significantly.”
changes that would require public companies
to include more climate-related disclosures in
their SEC filings and reports.

 Peer Perspective

“Upskilling the team, keeping up with changing requirements and developing audit
approaches to ESG is essential for most audit plans.”

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Q: Over the past year, how much growth has there been in the amount of Environment,  Industry Insight
Social and Governance (ESG)-related auditing work your department has carried out?
“Reporting on ESG will
20.5%
=205795 + It has grown significantly require more than just skill
with numbers. Auditors
should feel comfortable

40.71%
=410590 + It has grown a little bit
with all types of sensor-
created data and their
analysis. Auditors

=266734 +
should be familiar with
26.61% It has stayed the same
technology, information
systems, and perhaps

=62938 +
some engineering.”
6.28% It has decreased a bit
—Dr. Deniz Appelbaum,

=21979
+
Chair and Assistant
2.14 %
It has decreased significantly Professor at Montclair
State University

3.76%
=38962
+ We have never done any ESG-related auditing work

23
Technology trends

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Analytics use still has room to grow

Just over half of respondents to the survey said they use analytics When asked if they used analytics software as part of their regular
software as part of their regular auditing activities. That’s a surprisingly auditing activities, just 56 percent of internal auditors said it was a key
low number, considering the potential benefits analytics software offers. part of their operations. On a positive note, 34 percent said they do not,
Analytics solutions allow auditors to test complete data sets, perform but plan to use it in the future, while just 10 percent said they had no plans
more thorough audits and easily identify anomalies. They can also to use analytics.
integrate data from multiple sources to generate new insights, create
visualisations based on data that make it simpler to explain audit results to
senior management or board members, while also generating clear
audit trails.

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Q: Are you using analytics software as part of your regular auditing activities?  Peer Perspective

5635+ 8+ 1+ 55.62%

34.09%

9.57%

0.73% Not sure

No, and we have no
plans to use it
No, but we plan on
using it in the future
Yes, it is a key part of
our operations
“We are planning to use
analytics software. This
will be a push situation
because the board and
management might not be
seeing the need to have
such software.”

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Continuous auditing takes hold

More than 80 percent of survey respondents are relying on continuous Q: To what extent does your department utilise

42+39+181z
auditing to at least some extent. A continuous audit allows internal auditors continuous auditing?
to automatically pull data from accounts, transactions and processes,
letting them examine all available data, rather than rely on samples. 0.81%
18.33 % Not sure

Forty-two percent said they use it “Significantly — it is a big part of Minimal

how we operate.” Another 39 percent said they use it “Somewhat.”
Only 18 percent said they made minimal use of continuous auditing.

42.12%
 Peer Perspective Significantly

“We are still at the studying stage, figuring out which processes 38.74%
are a good fit for continuous auditing.” Somewhat

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Additional perspectives
Here are some additional thoughts provided by survey respondents:

"ESG is so new and I think most people would "Recruiting good staff and educating clients on "I think continuous training, especially in IT
benefit from actual training on the rules, the value of internal audit are the two biggest auditing, is needed for every internal auditor to
regulations, what is required and what is issues we face." catch up with rapid technological changes."
optional — laying out a real foundation like
"I am a sole operator in a medium-sized
HIPAA and HCCA does."
organisation and as a result internal audit has a
"Auditing needs more professional IT staff." modest budget. Extension into automation/AI
are targets, but require funding which is
"Industry organisations need to have
challenging to justify."
more training webinars on technology and
cybersecurity to help members stay current."

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Key takeaways
Internal audit teams are adopting new beyond manual processes. Internal auditors
technologies to improve their operations. need to be able to look at all the data within their
More than half of survey respondents have organisation to form an accurate assessment
made analytics solutions an integral part of of potential risks and identify any exceptions.
their operations and over 80 percent have
adopted cloud services. It’s clear that analytics Most internal audit teams use analytics, but
and cloud solutions are becoming embedded in adoption could be higher. Analytics offers
the internal audit function. These technologies proven benefits to internal audit and can play
can help auditors communicate with a significant role in transforming auditors
colleagues and clients and do more with less into trusted advisors — something senior
— an important consideration given the hiring management expects from their audit teams.
challenges internal audit departments face. Most internal auditors not yet using analytics
plan to adopt it in the future, so this is an area
Finding and retaining skilled talent is a major that could see significant growth over the
obstacle for internal audit departments. A next few years.
trend that had already been developing has
been exacerbated by a tight labor market. The Advisory services are growing. On the one
vast majority of survey respondents said it’s hand, this means internal auditors, who
challenging to hire the right talent and retain already have a lot on their plate, are expected
existing staff. Employers who insist on staff being to do more. On the other hand, it gives
in the office all the time will have a more difficult auditors a golden opportunity to showcase
time attracting new staff and keeping existing the value of their department to senior
workers. Cloud solutions, which most internal management. The growing use of cloud
audit departments have adopted, can help services and analytics solutions can help
organisations launch more flexible work policies. internal auditors do more work with fewer
resources and act as trusted advisors.
Internally, the biggest pressure auditors face
is proving their value to senior management.
The best way to achieve this is to help their
organisations succeed. This requires going

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