The above chart is from a new KPMG survey of audit committee chairs and CFOs. You can find the survey at

Click to access GM-OTS-1653_SeekingValueThrough_IAB_V1.pdf

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The survey and the above chart identify ongoing challenges for internal audit to provide and prove enough value to audit committee members and CFOs. It is well-documented that these challenges have existed for years – basically forever. But let’s not over generalize – one size doesn’t fit all, and certainly there are internal audit functions that are up-to-speed and that are providing good value.

If there is a problem in this area, you must also ask the audit committee members, not just the audit committee chair but also the individual members who aren’t the chair, why they aren’t getting the information that they need from internal audit? There’s either a lack of common understanding, and that lack of understanding might also be the fault of the audit committee members if they are not expressing themselves sufficiently, or there is a problem with the internal audit function, or its funding, or the qualifications of its members. In theory, it also is possible that the audit committee or the CFO simply are asking internal audit to perform a task or to provide information that is unreasonable; however, that is like saying “I can’t do that for you,” which of course is a very bad approach.

You can also see Tate’s Excellent Audit Committee Guide (updated January 3, 2016), at http://wp.me/p75iWX-q

Dave Tate, Esq., San Francisco and California, http://auditcommitteeupdate.com