Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services
By Kurt Reding, Paul Sobel, Urton Anderson, Michael Head, Sri Ramamoorti, and Mark Salamasick
The title is self explanatory and the material will be familiar to all internal auditors. What makes this book unique is that it makes the leap from textbook to practitioner training and reference tool. I first heard about this book at the 2007 IIA International Conference in Amsterdam and was intrigued to see a book of this nature published by the IIA. I attended a breakout panel discussion in which the authors talked about the book and their reasons for writing it.
The book is well organized and provides a framework that students can take from the classroom into the workplace. The first part of the book covers that fundamental audit concepts that internal auditors need to know and understand. The second part of the book covers the internal audit processes demonstrating how audits are planned and performed and outcomes communicated. Each chapter concludes with review and multiple choice questions as well as a case. Internal audit educators will use the book with a prepared curriculum while practitioners can take a chapter or subject for an in-house training session. The students will benefit by having a sound methodology that makes the transition from the classroom into the real world of internal auditing. The book contains a CD with both IDEA Data Analysis Software and ACL Software the two most popular data extraction and analysis software tools. While the software provided is limited in record size it still provides students with a real-life tool that, if integrated into their course curriculum and education, will benefit them as well as their future employers.
I didn’t see an online companion guide to the book which the IIA should consider as some of this material will become outdated over time. I would recommend this book as a must have addition for all internal audit department professional libraries. Management should use the book as a training tool as well as a refresher and desktop reference tool for all staff levels. Kudos to the IIA Research Foundation and the authors for a worthwhile addition for training future auditors and maintaining skills for auditors in the workplace.