IIA advocacy, public policy, & corporate governance engagement

The IIA is committed to protecting and advancing laws, regulations, and other public and corporate governance policies which are in the best interests of the public, the internal audit profession, The IIA, our institutes, and our members.

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Government adoption of The IIA’s IPPF, including the Standards, is a policy priority

Best practices memo for government adoption of the IPPF & Standards

The IIA's Global Public Policy Position Paper

A legal and regulatory framework for the profession available in English, French, and Spanish.

Download the Global Public Policy Position Paper

Advocacy in Canada

IIA Canada meets regularly with elected officials, regulators, and other key policymakers.

Learn more about Canadian advocacy efforts

Advocacy in the United States

The IIA’s U.S. Advocacy Team engages with the U.S. Congress, the Administration, regulators, and key stakeholders.

Learn more about The IIA’s advocacy efforts in the U.S.

Internal auditing & the public interest

Learn about the relationship between The IIA’s Standards and the public interest.

Public interest statement in The IIA’s Standards Standards setting in the public interest

Public policy resources

Advocacy

A Primer for Policymakers: An Intro to the Profession

The IIA has developed a set of multilingual educational packets available in English, French, and Spanish to help introduce public policymakers to The IIA and the internal audit profession. More languages coming soon.

Advocacy

Public comment letters

The IIA regularly provides comments and recommendations on various proposals, regulations, and legislation.

Advocacy

The Three Lines Model

The IIA has developed the Three Lines Model to help organizations identify structures and processes that best assist in the achievement of an organization's objectives and facilitate strong governance and risk management.

Advocacy

A critical piece of corporate governance

Internal audit contributes to strong corporate governance by providing assurance to the audit committee that risks are managed appropriately.

Issues in focus

Artificial intelligence

The IIA is engaging with policymakers to demonstrate the central role of the internal audit profession in evaluating risk and executing oversight in providing assurance over AI-related organizational risks as companies from all industries and sectors race to harness the potential power of this emerging technology.

Proactive engagement in policy discussion about AI seeks to emphasize internal audit’s capacity to promote responsible innovation, institute processes for effectively identifying and mitigating potential AI-related risks, and establish appropriate internal controls and independent oversight frameworks.

Cryptocurrency exchanges

With the emergence of cryptocurrencies and growing discussions on crypto assets, The IIA is advocating for a requirement for all cryptocurrency exchanges to establish and maintain an independent internal audit function and have senior management annually certify that their exchanges’ internal controls are adequate based on an internal audit assessment. Cryptocurrency exchanges currently operate in a largely unregulated environment, which creates several risks for investors, including security risks, market manipulation, fraudulent activity, and money laundering.

As the cryptocurrency market continues to evolve, regulators and policymakers should consider requiring mandatory internal audit functions to safeguard investors and promote confidence in this new asset.

Data privacy & security

Privacy is a significant risk management issue for businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations alike. It is therefore imperative for organizations – specifically those involved in collecting and processing consumer data – to possess a clearly defined governance structure.

The IIA is advocating for the passage of strong national and multinational data privacy laws – and corresponding regulations – which include an internal audit function within the organization to minimize the risk of organizational non-compliance and potential internal control failures.

Stock exchanges

An internal audit function that is independent of management and reports directly to the audit committee of a public company is a reporting relationship that enables the assessments and conclusions of the internal audit function to be objective, credible, and trustworthy. The presence of an internal audit function is widely considered an essential corporate governance practice for promoting organizational transparency and accountability as well as for risk management and protecting the interests of investors and other stakeholders.

The IIA works to promote a strong understanding of the benefits of an internal audit function within organizations and advocates for recognition of internal audit functions as a pillar of good corporate governance.

Cybersecurity

As companies from all industries and sectors confront a dynamic cybersecurity risk environment, it is evident that a robust legislative/regulatory framework is necessary to institute processes for effectively identifying and mitigating potential organizational cybersecurity risks and to establish appropriate internal controls and independent assurance procedures.

The IIA is working to advance laws and policies that ensure cybersecurity frameworks are robust, maintain appropriate internal controls and independent objective assurance over those controls, and minimize the organizational and operational risks of various threats, including denial-of-service, ransomware social engineering, and corporate software vulnerabilities.