Internal audit digital and analytics survey 2021
Building the data enabled function of the future
We are pleased to issue our latest digital and analytics internalaudit survey.
The wider topic of data analytics, and the principle of applyingdata interrogation or statistical analysis techniques to increase the level ofassurance Internal Audit provide is, of course, not new. However, in recentyears, it has gained growing attention by Board Audit Committees and ChiefAudit Executives (CAEs) and has been broadened as a topic to align to the widerdata and digital transformation of the Internal Audit function. Atransformation that seeks to enhance the level of impact and influence ofinternal audit by providing assurance more efficiently, advising managementmore insightfully, and anticipating risks more proactively.
We surveyed over 50 organisations that operate in the UK, across various industrysectors, audit maturity and size, seeking to get a better understanding of thecapability, vision and approaches to building (or acquiring) such capability aswell as some of the key lessons they have learned along the way.
Executive summary
A summary of our findings and key insights from the survey which included:
- Current use of analytics
- The operating model, talent and resourcing
- Barriers and challenges
- Future direction and strategy
- The Internal Audit function of the future
Current use of analytics
- Exploring themes such as what is the current state of play, and how the use of digital and analytics compares across sectors and size of organisations
- What is the more typical use of tools and techniques, across which lifecycle stages, and how pervasive are advanced and cognitive automation technologies in Internal Audit?
- How do “smaller functions” embed/apply analytics effectively to drive optimum value?
The operating model, talent and resourcing
- Key questions that will be explored in this section relate to talent, reporting lines and organisational structure for digital and analytics teams.
- What skillsets are organisations looking for in order to respond to the challenges? Which types of operating models do we find evolving?
- How do functions incentivise the adoption of analytics and digital?
Barriers and challenges
- This section explores the key challenges or barriers that may prevent organisations from using analytics further.
- It also provides perspectives and comparatives from organisations across sectors and sizes, while also discussing insights across the industry.
- How do you “embed” analytics effectively, and how important is a data and analytics culture.
Future direction and strategy
- This section explores the answers to the “why now?” questions. It focuses on strategic direction, key priorities for Internal Audit functions over the next 3-5 years.
- It discusses the investment for future maturity enhancement and development, and how we see this translating into digital transformation initiatives and technology enablement projects.
The Internal Audit function of the future
- We provide our perspectives on the effective use of digital assets, analytics and solutions for Internal Audit as a function.
- We debate what effective digital and analytics means, what drives value, and how this value can be measured.
- We have aligned our point of view to the Deloitte Internal Audit 3.0 blueprint.
Please see below for a Tableau dashboard which has been configured with data from the survey responses and can be analysed and filtered accordingly to present a view by industry / sub-sector or size of organisation.
