While Sarbanes-Oxley does not require enterprises to have an internal audit function in place, reality has shown that internal audit teams are crucial in achieving compliance. External auditors often rely on the work of internal auditors to complete their own assessments. If there is no pre-existing internal audit, external auditors will take much longer to complete their work, which increases their fees considerably.
This research note outlines the key activities in setting up an internal audit team. These activities include:
- Understanding the investment required to implement and support an internal audit team.
- Selecting an appropriate audit framework to govern audit practice.
- Identifying key audit team tasks.
- Designing the actual audit team.
Sarbanes-Oxley is an absolute certainty for all publicly-traded companies. These enterprises should begin plans now to properly build and staff an internal audit team to achieve and maintain compliance.