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Internal Audit Staff: duties, skills and qualifications required

internal audit staff

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Internal audit Staff are employees of a company or organization who are responsible for identifying, reviewing, and evaluating the company's financial system and operations.

From examining the company, the internal audit staff will identify risks, ensure compliance with regulations, recommend improvements, and evaluate follow-up actions.  

This is enough to show how important the role of internal audit staff in the organization to ensure efficiency, transparency, and compliance with the rules. 

To better understand what the internal audit staff and their duties and responsibilities, please refer to the following explanation,

Duties and responsibilities of Internal Audit Staff

Staff internal audit is an employee who works under a company and is tasked with checking operational systems and financial statements.

This clearly shows that the internal audit staff has an important role in developing the company in the future. 

To get to that stage, an internal audit staff has duties and responsibilities that need to be carried out. 

Among the duties and responsibilities of an internal audit staff are as follows:

1. Perform system review

Candidate must possess at least a bachelor's degree, master's Degree / Post Graduate Degree, Engineering (Computer / Telecommunication), Engineering audit standards and applicable regulations.

Among the staff's tasks in ensuring smooth operations and reducing errors is to analyze the work system of each division, review the efficiency of its procedures, and identify areas that need improvement. 

Read Also: Internal Audit Code of ethics as a standard in the implementation of Internal Audit!

2. Planning the audit process

Tasks that need to be done audit staff is to perform audit planning systematically and clearly.

The Auditor needs to submit information and schedule an audit with the auditee. This is because basically audits are carried out to evaluate and make improvements to the company.

3. Identify potential risks

Identifying risks that may occur in the company's operational and financial systems is one of the tasks of the internal audit staff. 

These risks can be many things, such as financial risks, non-compliance with procedures, to the risk of compliance with the law. 

If you can find risks early, the potential for losses can be minimized and the opportunity for long-term stability will be maintained.

4. Checking financial statements

Internal audit Staff are tasked with ensuring the accuracy of the company's financial statements by reviewing them in detail and in detail. 

Reports must be free from calculation errors and comply with applicable accounting standards, so that the company can avoid potential financial and legal problems.

5. Prepare audit report

After the audit process completed, an internal audit staff will prepare a report containing important findings, analysis of audit results, and recommendations for corrective action.

The advice given by the audit staff will be implemented by the company's management to improve the system that supports the sustainability of the company.

Expertise Of An Internal Audit Staff

expertise in understanding financial statements by internal audit staff
Auditor's expertise in Understanding Financial Statements (source: Freepik)

There are several skills that need to be possessed by an internal audit staff so that the examination process can run optimally. 

This is because these skills can support the work and improve the skills of auditors in conducting examinations.

Among the skills that need to be mastered by an internal audit staff are as follows:

1. Analytical ability

Analytical skills are useful in solving problems and finding patterns in financial statements. 

If you have this ability, then the risk of harm can be prevented and opportunities for improvement can be identified.

2. Understanding of financial statements

Remembering audit team closely related to financial statements is certainly the basis for understanding various types of financial data. 

Not only does it understand, but it will also read, examine, and analyze it in detail to ensure the suitability of the numbers and records according to the procedure.

3. Communication skills

In carrying out their duties, the internal audit staff will be in contact with many parties related to the audit process and convey the audit findings precisely and clearly.

In addition, these skills can also support your task in explaining the results of the audit to the company's management and delivering effective improvement recommendations.

4. Time management

It is a skill that allows you to be able to manage tasks and ensure that they are not only completed on time, but also of quality. 

This is necessary because it is not uncommon for internal audit staff to be involved with many projects running at the same time.

Qualification Of Internal Audit Staff

independent or objective internal audit staff qualification
Qualifications of an objective Auditor (source: Freepik)

Talking about the qualifications of internal audit staff, means talking about the qualities that are needed and that should be avoided. 

The qualities required by the internal audit staff to match the qualifications of an auditor are as follows:

  • Independent or objective, auditors must work objectively and not take sides or have interests with certain parties
  • Good communication and interpersonal skills, observe the details of documents and other reports provided while taking a close look at any information submitted 
  • Detailed and structured, auditors should be able to prepare reports that will be used as a reference management in making improvements clearly and systematically 
  • Fluent in English both oral and written, able to communicate well without causing discomfort atmosphere and can explain the findings with a professional and thoughtful attitude
  • Experienced, where experience can help auditors to identify problems quickly and effectively 
  • Have knowledge about auditee, the auditor needs to understand the industry and the auditee's operational systems in order to examine them more accurately

The qualities that must be avoided by internal audit staff to be in accordance with the qualifications of an auditor are as follows:

  • Not working independently or objectively, this is because the auditor is affected or in favor of certain parties to obtain certain benefits
  • Lack of preparation before the audit, where the audit process can run is not optimal and ineffective if the necessary documents and information are not prepared properly
  • Lack of knowledge and information, auditors who do not have knowledge and information about what is being audited, then their work will be filled with doubt, indecision, and inconsistency in a decision
  • Excessive in expression, because auditors need to be professional and not show too much emotion, such as being too relaxed or too critical
  • Subjective and mixing personal affairs, where the auditor is prohibited from giving decisions on the basis of personal relationships with certain sides
  • Storage of audit reports that are not but, inaccuracy of auditors in keeping audit records, such as storage that is not neat or even lost can cause errors in making decisions 

Conclusion

Thus is an explanation of the duties and responsibilities as well as the qualifications required by the internal audit staff. 

From this explanation proves the importance of the role of audit staff in supporting the sustainability of the organization or company. 

If you manage to become an internal audit staff, you can use Audithink to facilitate the audit process that you do. 

Starting from risk-based audit planning, implementation, accurate and actual reporting, and monitoring of action plans carried out by the auditee. 

Schedule application demo go ahead and take a look at your audit process!

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