Under the new situation, the internal audit of enterprises presents five overall development trends: internal audit changes from compliance-oriented to management-oriented; Attach importance to management audit; Standardization of audit methods; Centralized organization of audit function; Training enterprise managers through internal audit mechanism.
The investigation of enterprises shows that one-third of the internal audit of enterprises is management-oriented or biased towards management-oriented to increase the added value of internal audit of enterprises; Another 40% enterprises define themselves as between compliance-oriented audit and management-oriented audit; However, enterprises with homozygous or partial compliance orientation only account for less than 30% of the total number of surveys. It can be seen that large state-owned enterprises should strive to be in line with international standards and change from traditional compliance-oriented internal audit to management-oriented internal audit to help enterprises enhance their value.
The focus of internal audit has changed from financial audit to management audit. The survey of enterprises shows that nearly 70% of enterprises' internal audit departments attach importance to management audit, improve the operational efficiency of enterprises through reviewing processes and analysis systems, and ensure the strategic shaping of business processes and structures. Only 6% of enterprises did not carry out management audit business. It can be seen that the proportion of financial reporting and compliance audit in the internal audit responsibilities of large enterprises is getting smaller and smaller, and the management of audit business will become the main responsibility of internal audit in the future. State-owned enterprises should learn from international experience and complete the transformation of internal audit function.
The working methods of internal audit are gradually standardized in enterprises. With the transformation of enterprise internal audit to management and the continuous strengthening of the deployment of internal audit management tools, the departments engaged in internal audit in enterprises have become very similar to other professional service industries (such as consulting companies), providing large-scale comprehensive audit services for enterprises independently. The survey of enterprises shows that 67% of enterprises' internal audit standardization is at the average level, and the enterprises with high standardized internal audit system are more than those with low standardized internal audit system 17%. At the same time, more and more enterprises use appropriate IT tools to automatically analyze financial reports and compliance audits. In this case, audit problems are usually identified by systematic it risk analysis. It should be pointed out that although more than 60% of enterprises are not equipped with integrated audit management tools, these enterprises usually only conduct small-scale internal audits; Enterprises often introduce suitable management software or develop corresponding management tools when conducting large-scale internal audit. Less than 40% of enterprises do not use any audit software.
The internal audit function organization has changed from decentralized management to centralized management. The centralized management of internal audit function is helpful for enterprises to implement relatively simple standardized audit process and ensure enterprises to allocate internal resources more effectively. Benchmarking shows that 75% of the respondents are enterprises whose internal audit functions are basically centralized or completely centralized, and only a quarter of enterprises adopt a decentralized or relatively decentralized internal audit function system. It can be seen that most large international enterprises have chosen to centrally manage their internal audit functions. This method is not only conducive to mobilizing internal audit resources, but also increases the independence of enterprise internal audit and the control of the company's board of directors on internal audit. Large state-owned enterprises should strive to be close to international advanced practices, centrally manage internal audit functions, and promote the transformation of enterprise internal audit.
Enterprises tend to cultivate their own managers through internal audit mechanism. Enterprises have completed a major change in the requirements for internal auditors, and internal audit has become an important step in cultivating quasi-managers, and auditors have become candidates for quasi-managers in various business functional departments of enterprises. The survey shows that most (more than 80%) enterprises have adopted the internal audit human resources strategy of recruiting auditors who meet the post requirements. Through effective vocational training methods, auditors will eventually be promoted to quasi-managers of enterprises. This move by large international enterprises has increased the attractiveness of internal audit posts and attracted a large number of high-quality talents for enterprises to engage in internal audit work. Large state-owned enterprises should adjust the career development direction of internal auditors with reference to their practices in order to attract more high-quality talents to join the internal audit team of enterprises.