Internal auditors expanding scope of duties

It's fair to say that in the Sarbanes-Oxley area, internal audits focused on financial risks and related controls. But some have discerned that this focus came at the expense of other issues, such as operational and non-financial IT risks. Now, says Financial Week, the pendulum seems to be swinging back. PwC, among others, thinks internal auditors can "leverage" AS5 to focus on other areas, such as hiring and retention risks, and governance risks. This seems to be underway. PwC has found that the percentage of internal audit groups that dedicated at least half of their resources to Sarbox compliance decreased from 41 percent to 27, the article notes. This likely will be a big-company trend. Smaller companies just ramping up can likely afford anything other than a strict financial focus.  

For more:
- here's the Financial Week article

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