CONSULTING
Auditing is maturing to become less punitive and policing to become participatory.  Why?  Self-management and self-control are key management areas these days.  The IIA standards allow an auditor to both conduct objective audits that may not independent.  What does this mean?  The auditor conducts objective assessments but may also work with the auditee or process owners to implement the recommendations. 

This is a major change in internal auditing.  There is no longer a purely independent and objective, arms-length relationship between the auditor and auditee.  The auditor in some organizations may evolve into a process consultant. 

Significant corrective actions, preventive actions, and conditions can put an organization at risk; specifically can adversely affect the organization.  This is sometimes a judgment call.  However, there are top-level issues that always should be brought to senior management attention.

Senior management and the company’s Board of Directors are responsible for the organization’s risk management and operational control processes.  However, value added auditors also can serve as consultants to assist the organization in identifying, evaluating and implementing risk management methodologies and controls.  This is a major change in internal auditing and other auditing disciplines where it was assumed that there was a firewall between auditing and the auditee.

Traditionally, auditors were independent and objective.  Independence implies that there is an arms length relationship between the auditor and auditee.  The challenge is that if the auditor provides the auditee consulting assistance, the auditor’s independence may be impaired while the auditor’s objectivity to the auditee still provides value.  The auditor as consultant is a major revision in the Institute of Internal Auditing standards. This is a major step to auditors evolving to risk management and business process consultants.