Question

Undoubtedly, many non-audit employees at any organization might be initially intimidated at the thought of the establishment of an internal audit department and having to answer questions from internal auditors. What might a Chief Audit Executive could do to alleviate these initial fears and concerns? What steps could the new CAE have taken to reduce the “us vs. them” relationship between the  Company’s non-audit employees and the staff of internal auditors?

Answer 1

A chief audit executive has to manage the employees who are non-audit and the employees who are in internal audit department. The steps that can be taken by the CAE are as follows:-

1) A small seminar can be conducted showing the benefits of audit to the non-audit employees, showing the interests of the company if the internal audit is done properly.

2) A seminar also showing the interests of the employees if the internal audit is done successfully and what advancements can be done if all is good in the report of internal audit.

3) To comfort the situations between the non-audit employees and the employees of internal audit department, the CAE can make sure that both the employees interact and get into recreational activities if possible to build a team which is a mix of non-audit employees and internal audit department employees.

4) To make the employees more coordinated, both of the clans have to understand the intricacies and the workings of each other in the company which also shows the importance of each other's work in the organisation