1.2 Query
Member’s Duties and Responsibilities as an Internal Auditor – 1. Though not year a member of the institute, as a person who has passed the Final Examination recently, I am taking the liberty of asking you for the Institute’s advice and guidance in discharging my duties as the Internal auditor of a well established coal company. The training I had during the period of Articles failed to give me any experience in the line of internal audit. My query is that since internal audit is a part of the internal control, is it necessary to go through all the routine checking as in the case of statutory audit? I will be glad if you will kindly let me know about the duties of an Internal Auditor with particular reference to Stores and Wages.
Opinion July 12, 1961
The duties of an internal auditor are not laid down by Statute and therefore the member concerned should be advised to ascertain his exact responsibilities and the terms of his appointment from his employers. The duties of an internal auditor are to be determined by the management. In some cases, the management merely expects the internal auditor to supplement the function of the external auditor or to examine detailed entries or transactions which do not fall within the scope of the external auditor’s examination. In other cases, the management requires the internal auditor to cover the same ground as the external auditors but with a more detailed scrutiny of transactions. The management may also require the internal auditors to review systems and procedures, to examine critically management policies and to evaluate their worth. In view of all this, it is difficult to make a general statement on the scope of the internal audit. He should also be asked to refer to the following books: -
1. Internal Auditing by Bigg & Davies 2. Internal Auditing for Management by Lamperti.
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