Enhancing Audit Technology Effectiveness
Key Insights from TeamMate’s 2013 Global Technology Survey
Sharing Common Focus on Risk Creates Expanded Opportunities
for Internal Audit to Collaborate with Adjacent Functions
As the 2013 TeamMate Internal Audit Technology Survey (IATS) results indicate,
internal audit groups and their adjacent functions are increasingly sharing information
about risk and related issues, a trend suggesting a heightened need for internal audit
and its “key adjacencies” to increase their levels of interaction and collaboration.
Survey results suggest that the global internal audit community is primed to make this
happen: Nearly 7 in 10 IATS respondents expect their interactions with key adjacencies
to increase over the next two years, particularly in the areas of information sharing
and communications. In addition, more than 40% of survey respondents are currently
sharing technology with their key adjacencies and more than half plan to share
technology tools with their key adjacencies over the next two years.
Rationale for Survey Focus on “Key Adjacencies”
Today’s marketplace is characterized by heightened levels of collaboration, cooperation and
communication among organizational units or departments dealing with audit, risk management,
compliance and governance issues. In addition to internal audit, such organizational units include
compliance, IT, treasury and legal/corporate secretary functions, departments dealing with fraud and
investigations as well as enterprise risk management and control activities, business units and external
audit. When risk and control functions operate in silos, and when departmental responsibilities overlap,
organizations can find it difficult to communicate effectively and ensure that risks and controls are being
addressed adequately.
Given the push for greater collaboration among internal audit functions and the organizational units
with which they typically interact, a trend offering significant leadership opportunities for internal
audit groups, TeamMate decided to make internal audit’s relationships with its “key adjacencies” and the
potential for technology to enhance these relationships the central focus of the TeamMate 2013 Internal
Audit Technology Survey (IATS). We also plan to establish a baseline of these key adjacency activities and
measure them on an ongoing basis.
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Enhancing Audit Technology Effectiveness
Key Insights from TeamMate’s 2013 Global Technology Survey
Rating Frequency of Interactions with Adjacent Functions
When asked to rate the frequency of their interactions with adjacent functions,
respondents to TeamMate’s 2013 Internal Audit Technology Survey put compliance
at the top of the list followed by IT groups, antifraud and investigative operations,
business units and ERM (enterprise risk management) functions. Conversely, 2013
IATS respondents indicated that they have more limited interactions with their legal
and controller’s functions and with non-audit professionals with Sarbanes-Oxley
responsibilities. At the same time, however, IATS data indicates that many internal
audit functions typically bear primary responsibility for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as
well as fraud detection and prevention.
Key Adjacency
Rank
Compliance
1
IT Groups
2
Fraud/Investigation
3
Business Units
4
ERM (Enterprise Risk Management)
5
Chart 1:
Frequency of Internal
Audit Interactions
with Key Adjacencies
Nature of Interactions with Key Adjacencies
Where do IATS respondents spend most of their time when interacting with
representatives of adjacent functions? To no surprise, sharing knowledge and
information tops the list of interaction types followed by various types of meetings,
efforts to develop a common risk language and framework, conducting joint reviews or
audits, and issues tracking.
Nature of Interaction
Chart 2:
Nature of Internal
Audit’s Interactions
with Key Adjacencies
2
Rank
Sharing Knowledge & Information
1
Meetings
2
Risk Language
3
Joint Reviews or Audits
4
Issues Tracking
5
Enhancing Audit Technology Effectiveness
Key Insights from TeamMate’s 2013 Global Technology Survey
Prioritizing Adjacency Interactions
When asked to prioritize their adjacency interactions, respondents to TeamMate’s 2013
Internal Audit Technology Survey selected monitoring key risk indicators as their top
goal, followed by compliance monitoring, fraud identification, and sharing knowledge
and information.
RANK
Chart 3:
Top Priorities
for Adjacency
Interactions
1
Monitoring Key Risk Indicators
2
Compliance Monitoring
3
Fraud Identification
4
Sharing Knowledge & Information
5
Issues Tracking
0
10
65%
50%
46%
43%
39%
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Technology Sharing with Key Adjacencies
When asked whether they are sharing technology with their key adjacencies, 41% of
IATS respondents, a significant number, indicated that they were. And when asked to
rank the types of technology being shared, respondents selected issues tracking as #1
followed by knowledge and information sharing, data mining, document management
and risk assessment.
RANK
Chart 4:
Types of Technology
Shared with Key
Adjacencies
1
Issues Tracking
2
Sharing Knowledge & Information
3
Data Mining
4
Document Management
5
Risk Assessment
0
10
51%
50%
47%
35%
34%
20
30
3
40
50
60
Enhancing Audit Technology Effectiveness
Key Insights from TeamMate’s 2013 Global Technology Survey
Forecast: Stepped-Up Adjacency Interactions & Technology Sharing
Looking ahead, more than two-thirds (68%) of the 2013 IATS respondents, a highly
significant number, expect their interactions with key adjacencies to increase over the next
two years with a particular focus on five key areas, ranked in order of projected frequency:
RANK
Chart 5:
Projected Focus
of Future Internal
Audit/Adjacency
Interactions
1
Knowledge & Information Sharing
2
Communications
3
Risk Monitoring
4
Issues Reporting & Tracking
5
Risk Assessment
0
10
77%
65%
55%
52%
41%
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
In addition, 57% of survey respondents indicated that they are either currently sharing
technology tools with their key adjacencies or plan to do so over the next two years.
Plan significant move toward common
technologies in near future
21%
Anticipate limited use of common
technologies in near future
Chart 6:
Technology Sharing
with Key Adjacencies
29%
Currently share technology and technology
tools with one or more key adjacencies
7%
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Enhancing Audit Technology Effectiveness
Key Insights from TeamMate’s 2013 Global Technology Survey
TeamMate Observations
The results of the 2013 TeamMate Internal Audit Technology Survey strongly suggest
that audit functions and their key adjacencies have much to gain by increasing their
levels of interaction and collaboration. With a wide array of technology tools to
draw from, internal audit groups, in particular, are well-positioned to take the lead in
enhancing these interactions.
By actively considering ways to share technology with their key adjacencies —
particularly in the areas of knowledge and information sharing, issues tracking, data
mining and analysis, risk assessment and monitoring, and document management —
internal audit groups can create substantial value for their functions, key stakeholders
and parent organizations alike.
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Enhancing Audit Technology Effectiveness
Key Insights from TeamMate’s 2013 Global Technology Survey
Survey Background & Demographics
A total of 638 TeamMate users from around the world responded to the 2013
TeamMate Internal Audit Technology Survey, part of a global thought leadership effort
launched in 2011.
Central or South America
6%
9%
Respondents by
Location
Africa
8%
Asia/Pacific region
59%
18%
Europe and the Middle East
North America
3% 1%
Partnerships
Educational Institutions
8%
Respondents by
Organization Type
35%
25%
Not-for-profit Organizations
Government Agencies
Private Companies
29%
Public Corporations
Depts with more than 100 members
8%
8%
Respondents by
Department Size
21%
Depts with 51-100 members
Depts with 26-50 members
12%
23%
Depts with 11-25 members
Depts with 6-10 members
29%
Depts with 1-5 members
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2013 Technology Survey Highlights
In 2013, the TeamMate Internal Audit Technology Survey continued to gather information on core
internal audit trends and directions, such as current tools in use and year-over-year spending on
technology. Here are key insights from the 2013 survey with year-over-year comparisons with the
results of both the 2012 and 2011 TeamMate Internal Audit Technology Surveys.
Current & Projected Use of Technology
In comparing the results of TeamMate’s three annual technology surveys, we can see a slow but steady
increase in the use of issues tracking, which has increased slightly each year, as well as slight increases
in the use of risk tools and mobile devices as productivity enhancers. By contrast, there has been little
change in the use of social media.
Looking at responses to the survey question dealing with the projected use of technology over the
next two years, 2013 responses are consistent with those of the prior two years, pointing to a strong
emphasis on data analysis tools as the top priority followed by tools for risk assessment and automated
issues tracking.
Technology Budgets Reflect Continued Support
On a year-over-year basis, 33% of the 2013 survey respondents indicated that their technology budgets
had increased while 56% said their budgets had stayed about the same. Looking ahead, 34% expect their
technology budgets to increase over the next two years, marking the third year in a row that approximately
a third of the IATS respondents projected an increase in their technology budgets. For example, 37% of
2012 survey respondents indicated that they were expecting their technology budgets to increase over the
coming years while 51% expected their budgets to stay the same. It would appear that the projected level
of increased budgets anticipated by the 2012 respondents did in fact occur in 2013.
Skills & Training
With respect to staff skills, the number of IATS respondents indicating that “most” of their staffs were
proficient with in-house technology rose slightly from 63% in 2012 to 66% in 2013. In the area of
training, 64% of respondents indicated that they primarily use on-the-job instruction, which is far and
away the most frequently used form of audit training, a slight increase from the 2012 percentage.
Comparing Technology Use by Internal Audit with that of Parent Organization
When 2013 survey respondents were asked to rate their use of technology compared to that of their
organizations as a whole, their responses mirrored those in 2012, when roughly 60% of respondents
considered their technology capabilities to be about on a par with the organization as a whole. Knowing
this, one wonders whether those groups rating themselves in the lower categories (failing or significantly
failing) are making any progress in their efforts to catch up with their parent organizations.
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ARC-13-3359 ARC-TM-TL-SURVEY-BRO 2013 12/16/2013