My journey to fraud awareness

The views expressed here aren’t necessarily those of the ACFE, its executives or employees. — ed.

Internal audit management at many companies believe that the internal auditor’s role is not necessarily to be a fraud examiner, and they mistakenly use the Institute of Internal Auditor’s (IIA) definition of internal auditors to solidify this belief:  

Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objective by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance process. (IIA publication, “Internal Auditing: Assurance, Insight, and Objectivity”)  

Years ago, when I began working as a new auditor, I read this definition and wondered why auditors still often brought up the topic of fraud in discussions. It seemed clear to me at the time that internal auditors weren’t required to conduct fraud examinations and analyses.