Brink's Modern Internal Auditing

CHAPTER 15 Managing the Internal Audit Universe and Key Competencies

The overall emphasis throughout this book has been the common body of knowledge (CBOK) areas that internal auditors should know and understand. Most of these cover areas where internal auditors should gain a great knowledge and understanding, such as Chapter 9 on internal audit professional standards, Chapter 13 on defining an audit scope document or audit universe, Chapter 17 on documenting results through effective workpapers, or Chapter 23 on cybersecurity and privacy controls. Each of these chapters presents an overview of the subject area and points to concepts and issues where an internal auditor can gain a better understanding through additional study, experience, and internal audit activities. However, in addition to these important areas of internal audit understanding, there is a major internal auditor need. In all areas that may be potentially reviewed, internal audit management must have a high-level understanding of the potential auditable areas within the auditor’s enterprise and areas of responsibility. This generally is called the audit universe, as was described in Chapter 13; it is a compendium of all areas and processes in an enterprise that may be subject to audit.

Using this audit universe concept can sometimes create problems if there is too much enterprise turmoil, such as frequent organization acquisitions or dispositions. Also, sometimes areas described in the universe are almost too ...