Recent developments around the world reaffirm the responsibility a board has for ensuring the effectiveness of internal control and risk management arrangements in their organizations. The importance of internal audit professionals assisting audit committees in fulfilling this responsibility cannot be overstated. With heightened expectations and changing demands, the internal audit function must constantly examine whether it is strategically positioned, structured, and resourced to meet the audit committee’s needs for information and insights.
In addition to serving as IFAC’s Deputy President, Olivia Kirtley is a member of the Board of Directors of three public companies: US Bancorp, Papa John's International, Inc., and Rescare, Inc. She also serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee for both US Bancorp and Papa John’s.
Because of these roles and her vast experience, Ms. Kirtley was the ideal person to give the keynote address at the Institute of Internal Auditors’ 2014 General Audit Management Conference. Ms. Kirtley’s speech, Audit Committee Needs for Insight, addressed what information boards, and more specifically audit committees, need for their decision making and how the internal audit function could be best positioned to provide that information.
Ms. Kirtley also addressed the roles of audit committees and the internal audit function; the main topics of concern for audit committees; what is expected of internal auditors; and what roles internal audit should play going forward. You can also watch a video interview with Ms. Kirtley about her presentation via the IIA’s Audit Chanel TV.
