About this template
Internal Audit teams should regularly perform a self assessment to ensure they are compliant with the Internal Audit Standards. This self-assessment (according to the IIA) should be performed at least annually. An external assessment, as per Standard 1312 from the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Standards), should be performed once every five years.
This template helps audit teams in assessing their current processes against the Standards. The template also allows for recommendations / suggested actions to be built in, with the implementation status of these actions to also be tracked. The template has also been designed so that audit teams can simply copy and paste the document into their audit committee / management reporting packs. Alternatively, the Scorecard page can be used to provide a visual representation of the self assessment results.
Why use this template
This template can be provided to any member of the audit team to perform the self-assessment. A junior member is able to perform a first review, with the template included examples of what evidence should be expected to meet each Standard requirement. This self-assessment can then be reviewed by a more senior member of the team, where commentary and recommendations can be recorded. This workpaper also provides evidence of the self-assessment being performed. Documentation is key in everything we do as auditors!
When to use this template
The self-assessment should be performed at least annually, meaning it is best to perform the assessment at the same time each year. Depending on your audit calendar, it is best to perform the assessment during a ‘quitter’ period. For instance, avoid periods where the audit committee are required to focus on financial statements and annual planning. The self-assessment is a key task and should therefore receive priority attention from the audit committee.
Things to be careful about
This template provides suggested evidence which could support each Standard. This example evidence should be reviewed and updated to reflect your internal audit teams ways of workings and your own personal standards. Our evidence is as a guide only and does not constitute an external assessment. Your Internal Audit self-assessment should also take into account any KPIs and other key metrics.
