ECIIA and its role within the Internal Audit profession

The European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) speaks for the Internal Audit profession in the wider geographic area of Europe and the Mediterranean basin representing a membership base of over 40,000 professionals. ECIIA's mission is promote sound corporate governance, risk management and internal auditing activity to all business entities, institutions and representative bodies of stakeholders within the European Community, taking into account global trends and policy.

The ECIIA (European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing) represents the beacon of the Internal Audit profession in the wider geographic area of Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

ECIIA exists to promote professional internal auditing - its benefits, competencies, standards and qualifications - to all institutions, bodies, committees and people of influence within its member countries. It undertakes research on topics relating to internal audit, business control, risk management and corporate governance. It publishes position papers, briefings reports and a quarterly newsletters.

Internal Auditing is defined as an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organisation's operations. It helps an organisation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.

Independence and objectivity are two critical components of an effective internal audit activity: the internal auditor occupies a unique position he or she is employed by the management but is also expected to review the conduct of management which can create significant tension since the internal auditor's independence from management is necessary for the auditor to objectively assess the management s action, but the internal auditor's dependence on the management for employment is very clear.

You can find more information at ECIIA flyer.