This definition reflects the great changes in international internal audit practice, expands the functions of internal audit, and defines the purpose, service objectives, work scope, technical methods and personnel quality requirements of internal audit. For this reason, this definition has aroused widespread concern of internal auditors all over the world.
In the past few years, due to various reasons, there have been many different Chinese translations of the definition of IIA internal audit. Recently, our association organized experts, scholars and practitioners in the field of internal audit to discuss the definition of internal audit and the Chinese translation of the IIA Code of Practice for Internal Auditing (hereinafter referred to as the Red Book). After careful discussion, everyone reached a consensus on the Chinese translation of the definition of IIA internal audit, namely: "Internal audit is an independent and objective confirmation and consultation activity, aiming at increasing value and improving the operation of the organization. It evaluates and improves the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes by applying systematic and standardized methods to help organizations achieve their goals. "
The Chinese translation of IIA internal audit definition (1999) is now explained as follows:
1. "Internal audit is an independent and objective confirmation and consultation activity", indicating that the two major functions of internal audit activities are confirmation and consultation. Therefore, the word "as-warranty" is changed to "confirmation", which is explained as follows:
1, the word "guarantee" is too high for the function of internal audit. The function of internal audit depends to a great extent on the management tone, corporate culture and internal control consciousness of the organization's senior management. Therefore, internal audit can't completely guarantee the various business activities of the organization. In fact, the internal audit activity is to confirm the audited items through inspection, and put forward evaluation opinions and suggestions on this basis. The function of "confirmation" is the traditional duty of internal audit.
2, internal audit is one of the elements of internal control, its function is to control the rest of the elements of internal control. Internal control refers to a series of policies and procedures established to reasonably ensure the normal operation of the company's business activities and achieve specific goals. Therefore, the degree of "assurance" of internal audit cannot be higher than that of internal control.
3. On July 1 1, 2005, during the 64th IIA International Conference held in Chicago, USA, Mr. David Richard, Executive Chairman (Secretary-General) of IIA Headquarters, met with Yi, Vice President and Secretary-General of our Association, and pointed out that the definition of internal audit is the most basic core concept of internal audit. The red book of IIA focuses on the definition of internal audit, while products such as CIA exam serve the red book and some technical methods. Therefore, it is very important to accurately translate the definition of IIA internal audit, which is helpful to understand the purpose, function and role of IIA. As for the word "as-surance" in the definition of IIA internal audit, he did not agree to translate it into "guarantee". He stressed that this word has nothing to do with the meaning of "guarantee, guarantee and maintenance", and internal audit cannot "guarantee" anything. He explained that this word means that the management formulates various guidelines, policies, systems and business projects, and after the internal auditor's inspection, confirms whether their formulation and implementation will help achieve the organizational goals, and makes concluding comments to enhance the confidence of the organization in achieving the goals. China employees working in IIA headquarters also suggested translating "guarantee" into "confirmation".
In view of the above situation, we are considering revising the Chinese translation of IIA Red Book to translate "guarantee" into "confirmation" according to the requirements of IIA Headquarters.
Secondly, "aiming at increasing value and improving the operation of the organization", compared with the original Chinese translation "aiming at increasing value and improving the operation efficiency of the organization", the new translation is concise and accurate. Specific instructions are as follows:
1. The word "for institutions" before "added value" was deleted. First, there is no word "organization" in English. Second, internal audit should not only add value to the organization, but also promote the organization to fulfill its corresponding social responsibilities, including: observing laws and regulations; Abide by recognized business norms and moral concepts and meet social expectations; Provide overall welfare for the society and enhance the long-term and short-term interests of stakeholders; Report comprehensively to the owners, law enforcement personnel, other stakeholders and the general public. Generally speaking, all these requirements refer to the added value of internal audit to social and economic development.
2, improve the operation of the organization ",the original translation of the word" Operations "into" operational efficiency "is not accurate enough. The Chinese meaning of this word is: operation, operation, operation, which mainly refers to the operation of the daily business of the whole organization at the operational level, rather than going beyond the normal business operation scope of the organization to improve operational efficiency. Therefore, "improving the operational efficiency of the organization" was changed to "improving the operation of the organization".
Thirdly, it uses a systematic and standardized method, that is, the interpretation of the word "differentiation". The explanation is as follows:
Discipline (passive voice) means to be disciplined after training and discipline. This word is difficult to translate, and there are different translations or omissions. It is suggested that internal auditors should receive training or training before mastering and using the methods needed for internal audit activities. It is suggested that "systematic and differentiated methods" be translated into "systematic and well-trained methods".
After discussion, experts and scholars still tend to translate this word into a "standardized" method. The reason is that, from the overall framework of IIA Red Book, there are not only high requirements for internal auditors in various audit techniques, audit processes and audit management, but also very high professional ethics standards for internal auditors, that is, strict self-discipline and restraint requirements.
In addition, when meeting with Mr. David Richard, Executive Chairman of IIA Headquarters, he explained that the word meant to require internal auditors to use a "standard and unified" method instead of a random and decentralized method to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. Therefore, the word is still translated as a "normative" method.
Four. "Assessing and improving the effect of risk management, control and governance process", translated from the original Chinese text as "Assessing and improving risk management, control and governance process"
1, effectiveness should be translated as "effect" instead of "efficiency". The effect is to do the right thing, and efficiency is to do the right thing well. Just like a race, you must first find the right direction and then run as fast as possible. If the directions are all wrong, the faster you run, the farther you are from the target. Regardless of whether an organization's risk management, control and governance process has established objectives, the important connotation of "effect" is to see whether the established objectives of the organization have been achieved, which is also an important basis and content for internal auditors to check and evaluate the organization's "risk management, control and governance process".
2.Processes emphasizes "process" rather than "program". The process is dynamic, and it is the process that managers and employees implement various policies and rules, while the procedure is static.
Five, "help the organization to achieve its goals" is the purpose and purpose of internal audit activities.
It shows that the function of internal audit is to serve the organization to achieve its goals, so internal auditors are required to stand on the standpoint of safeguarding the overall interests of the organization and help the organization solve various problems that affect its achievement of its established goals.