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1、外文翻译-内部审计的蜕变 本科毕业论文设计外 文 翻 译外文题目 MichaelRisk managementThe reinvention of internal control and the changing role of internal audit 外文出处 Accounting Auditing Accountability Journal 外文作者 Laura F Spira Michael Page 原文THE METAMORPHOSIS OF INTERNAL AUDITIn this section we trace the development of internal
2、 audit and compare the rhetoric of the associations seeking to professionalise the activity with the changes which are occurring in the work of internal auditors as a result of external pressures and the opportunity to expand their remit which the redefinition of internal control affords Historicall
3、y internal audit has been viewed as a monitoring function the organizational policeman and watchdog Morgan 1979 p161 tolerated as a necessary component of organizational control but deemed subservient to the achievement of major corporate objectives An examination of the pressures on internal audit
4、in recent years reveals the structure to demonstrate that the function can add value Outsourcing of the internal audit function became popular during the 1980s as the costs of internal audit were being closely scrutinized in many companies often as a result of the application of business process re-
5、engineering techniques The move to outsourcing was one of the driving forces for change in internal audit The large accounting firms saw opportunities for new business Bruce 1996 suested that a risk management approach to strategy by top management and a desire to view it in an integrated way was an
6、 impetus towards integration of external and internal audit but the need for independence of external auditors provided a countervailing pressure The response of the internal audit community has been to emphasise professionalism and the potential of internal audit to add valueKalbers and Fogarty 199
7、5 observed that discussions about professionalism have exercised internal auditors for many years In 1979 Morgan identified the aspiration of internal auditors to move from controller to controller-adviser as part of the process of professionalisation of internal audit noting that this shift can onl
8、y be successfully achieved at the cost of surrendering certain elements of the controllership role and some of the claims to formal authority which go along with it Morgan 1979 p168 He observed that internal auditors found it problematic to relinquish such claims and cited difficulties encountered w
9、hen internal auditors having attempted to establish a co-operative relationship with auditees were obliged to resort to formal authority to obtain access to information or to deal with problems revealed by audit He noted that recent IIA pronouncements which emphasise how internal audit should provid
10、e a service to the organisation and how internal auditors should become more accountable to Audit Committees of Boards of Directors and society rather than exclusively to managementsignal the definition of a role and power base which returns to the philosophy of the original audit rolebut which carr
11、ies with it an expanded conception of the audit function whichseeks to combine control and advisory functions by orienting the latter to the highest organisational levels Morgan 1979 pp 169-70 Twenty years after Morgans observations the Institute of Internal Auditors promulgated a new definition of
12、internal auditing which focuses on independence and objectivity identifying an assurance and consulting role for internal audit and emphasizing adding value and improving effectiveness of risk management control and governance processes Krogstad etal 1999 p33 outlined the development of this new def
13、inition and noted that internal auditings interface with governance raises the stakes for the profession Although this new interest in the potential of internal audit to contribute positively to corporate objectives offers an opportunity for a stronger claim to professional status difficulties remai
14、n Pentland 2000 seeking to establish the boundaries of audit observed that auditors are experts in process rather than content in areas such as environmental audit specialists from other disciplines offer strong competition to the expert status of the traditional internal auditor Similar challenges
15、are encountered in the area of risk management and may be rebutted by the assertion that internal audit has the advantage of independence ICAEW 2000 p9 but the tension remains between the consultancy role of internal audit and claims of independent status Fogarty and Kalbers 2000 explored a range of
16、 dimensions of professionalisation in internal audit identifying independence autonomy and self-regulation as key attributes but cautioning that organisations should also be aware that internal auditing inherently involves role conflict Efforts to eliminate role conflict may deny internal auditors t
17、he very essence of their roles in the organisations p134 Claims for professional status both support and are supported by the identification of areas in which professional expertise may be demonstrated The financial scandals which provoked world-wide concern with corporate governance in the 1990s hi
18、ghlighted apparent failures of accountability 9 Inevitably audit and internal control mechanisms designed to secure accountability became a focus for the debate about reform Internal auditors traditionally specialists in internal control but not highly regarded within organisations have attracted th
19、e attention of boards grappling with external demands for assurance about corporate governance practice Thus Turnbulls broader approach to internal control has offered internal audit the opportunity to claim expertise in the crucial area of risk management The power base of internal audit is firmly
20、established it is a key component of good corporate governance practice But to what extent has the opportunity identified for extending this advantage been exploited by internal auditors There is a consensus that important changes are occurring in the nature of internal auditing McNamee 1995 charact
21、erised the history of internal auditing since the second world war as one of a transformation from validation of transactions to one of systems auditing They also detected a change in which internal auditors became a primary agent for transformational change in helping users of systems to design tes
22、t and monitor their own controls Power 1999a and 1999b suggested that there has been a fundamental change in the nature of corporate governance from regulation from above to regulation from the inside and that the key to what he calls this proactive compliance based style of regulation is a risk bas
23、ed future orientation Risk management is integral to the new self-governance of the organisation Despite Powers world view of an audit society it is likely that there is growing divergence of compliance cultures In many risk oriented approaches compliance is downplayed Where risks are regarded as mi
24、nimal or susceptible to local management procedures may not be documented and compliance not assessed at the same time innovative risk management solutions are actively sought which may not require procedural compliance As previously noted different risks are subject to widely different regimes and
25、a compliance culture is only one kind of regime However the extent to which such changes have permeated organisations is not yet known Internal auditors are certainly exhorted in the professional literature to embrace the opportunity to contribute to the achievement of corporate objectives through r
26、isk management for example Deloitte and Touche Tohmatsu 2000 asserted The shift in the risk-control landscape creates both challenges and opportunities for internal auditors Those that handle the challenge quickly and cost-effectively will be credited with helping their organisation meet its busines
27、s goals Those that dont will be left behind stranded in a world where the attitude you are either part of the problem or part of the solution separates the survivors from the casualties There is still much work to be done and we hope that internal audit professionals will see beyond today and carve
28、a vision worthy of tomorrow p6 Other evidence demonstrates that internal auditors certainly aspire to this reframing of their role in terms of risk management examples are offered by the new definition of internal auditing issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors in June 1999 as well as commenta
29、ry in recent articles eg Bou-Raad 2000 Chambers 2000 Chambers observed the increasing references to risk over the last five years in the strap lines of professional journals and newsletters relating to internal audit as well as an increasing focus on risk in the titles of articles therein Chambers 2
30、000 It is less clear that this ambition is being achieved Research into organisations known for their leading edge risk management practices Selim and McNamee 1999 shows an alignment of risk management and internal audit practice but the authors acknowledge that this is by no means universal and ide
31、ntify changes in culture and competencies required of other internal audit functions if they are to go in the same direction The Selim and McNamee model is one in which risk assessment is followed by risk management and risk communication however their descriptive model of leading risk managers is o
32、ne in which internal audit is derived from the strategic planning process rather than a process which contributes a great deal to it Survey research by Griffiths 1999 is more broadly representative of current practice In a questionnaire study of fellow FTSE 200 finance directors he found widespread
33、lukewarm or negative attitudes to internal audit and that the function was frequently seen as too low key and basic and therefore insufficiently business risk-oriented and that the function was lacking in skills and appropriately trained staff A survey of senior executives and senior internal audito
34、rs carried out by KPMG in the US KPMG 1999 indicated that a higher percentage of internal auditors than senior executives expected internal audit to have a developing role in identifying and evaluating risk Twice as many internal auditors as senior executives viewed risk management as the means by w
35、hich internal audit added value senior executives saw the internal audit role as principally to ensure internal control effectiveness indicating that both groups saw these as distinct functions unlike the UK view represented in Turnbull Internal auditors also had a stronger perception of their curre
36、nt ability to assist in risk management activity than senior executives did but senior executives expressed strong a wish for this area to be developed A similar survey by Deloitte and Touche Tohmatsu in New Zealand reported that 憛ethere are no major significant differences in perception of the futu
37、re role of internal audit registered by all respondents apart from internal auditors expectation of a larger role in assessing operational efficiency and organisational performance than chief executives expect 2000 p10 The growth of concern for corporate governance has been of great benefit to the s
38、tanding of internal auditors and has boosted their claims to professional status by emphasising the benefits of independence of judgement and objectivity in their reports An occupation which was once confined to checking mundane compliance with systems devised by others has become elevated to profes
39、sional status and with a line of reporting to the higher levels of the company The observation that within corporate governance policy risk management has become closely aligned with internal control suggests that the extent to which risks are managed has now been annexed as a form of accountability
40、 rather than its focus - a yardstick against which a dimension of performance is measured This redefinition offers a new view of risk management as part of the accountability process implying a shift which blurs the distinction between responses to risk through risk management systems and accountabi
41、lity for risk supporting Becks thesis that despite extended re gulation specific accountability is difficult to attribute to individuals or institutions the possibility arises that risk management has been adopted as much for its potential for blame avoidance as for improved accountability The paper
42、 has explored this through an analysis of the process of reinvention of internal control as risk management and an examination of the impact of this redefinition as embodied in the Turnbull guidance on internal audit Internal auditors have been exhorted by those seeking to establish their profession
43、alisation to present themselves as risk management experts basing this expertise on their familiarity with internal control processes but the extent to which this aspiration has been achieved in practical terms is unclear and should form the focus of future researchSourceLaura F SpiraMichael PageRis
44、k managementThe reinvention of internal control and the changing role of internal audit JAccounting Auditing Accountability Journal2003640-661重整组织和改造流程控制者角色的某些职能和权力机构一直以来所赋予其的某些权利作为代价摩根1979P168但内部审计人员发现放弃某些权利是有问题的他们引用曾遭遇到的困难来证明当内部审计人员试图想要与被审计者建立起一种合作关系时那他们审计时就必须求助于机构当局才能取得想要的信息或者是处理暴露出的问题摩根提出最近国际内部审
45、计协会强调内部审计应服务于组织相比仅对管理层负责内部审计人员更应该对董事会下的审计委员会和社会公众负责这暗示着对内部审计人员的角色和权利的定义又回到最初但是伴随审计功能的是一个延伸的概念它试图把控制者和建议者两个角色结合在一起后者面向更高的组织层次摩根1979P169-170在摩根提出这个观点二十年后内部审计师协会发布了关于内部审计的新定义该定义突出独立性和客观性表明其在内部审计中应扮演保证和咨询的角色并且强调它的增值作用提高风险管理的效用控制和管理流程的作用克劳格斯坦概括了这个新定义的发展并提到内部审计与管理的融合增加了同业的利益虽然内部审计的新定义对内部审计的专业地位有了更高的要求这明显有
46、助于企业目标的实现但困难依然存在潘特兰德2000试图建立审计的范围它观察到相比起要审计的内容比如环境审计等审计人员在程序方面更加熟练来自其他领域的专家比传统的内部审计人员在提供专业服务方面有更强的竞争力类似的竞争还出现在风险管理领域并且可能内部审计具有独立性优势的声明更易被人所质疑英格兰及威尔士特许会计师协会2000P9压力还留在内部审计咨询角色和独立性的要求之间福加蒂和凯尔巴斯2000在内部审计时探索过一系列专业方法把可识别的独立性自治和自我调节作为关键因素后提醒到组织也应该意识到内部审计内部存在其固有的角色冲突努力消除角色冲突可能否定内部审计人员在组织中的特有本质P134独立性要求只有在专
47、业知识可以被证明的识别领域受到支持20世纪90年代关于公司治理的财务丑闻在全世界范围内被曝光企业责任明显履行失败因为舆论的压力不可避免地外部审计内部审计组织机构被赋予要对企业安全负责的责任那些传统上内部审计的专家原先在组织中常常不被重视的内部审计师开始引起董事会的注意他们以此来满足外部对保证公司治理的需求因此特恩布尔的理论更接近于内部控制在风险管理的关键领域为内部审计提供便利的观点内部审计的权利基础被稳固的建立起来它是一个良好的公司治理结构的主要组成部分但是内部审计人员需要开发他们的这项被扩充出来的优势到什么程度呢现在能够统一的观点是内部审计的本质正发生着重要的变化麦克宁1995研究内部审计的
48、历史他从二战后便从作为研究验实证交易转变的一员变成研究系统审计的一员他也发现内部审计从帮助系统使用人的变革主要代理人变成设计制度和监管他们自己设计的制度的人鲍尔1999a1999b提到公司治理有了一个根本的变化即从上级管理转变成内部管理他称这基于管理风格的积极服从是基于未来方向的风险的关键风险管理是组织新的自我管理的一部分鲍尔关于审计社会的世界观很可能是服从文化的发展中的分歧意见在许多风险导向方法中承受风险是不受重视的这里的风险被认为是最小的或者说对局部的管理者敏感程序不具有证明文件符合在这里不能被评定同时创新后的风险管理应对方法积极地寻找不需要程序上符合的方法如前所述不同的风险来源于广泛的管理制度承受风险只是其中的一种风险反应然而风险管理发展变化的程度到目前还不知道在专业文献上内部审计人员必定被劝告通过风险管理来促进企业目标的实现比如德勤会计事务所2000宣称这种在风险控制上的变化对内部审计人员来说既是挑战也是机会那些从成本效益出发并快速应对挑战的便能帮助组织达到其目标而那些不能应对这种变化的终将被留下他们要么是问题的一员要么是解决问题的一员要发展内部审计到现在仍有许多工作要做我们希望内部审计人员在今天具有远见这样才能有一个有价值的明天P6另外有证据
