How do I become an Internal Auditor?

I would like to become an internal auditor. I am in financial services at the moment but a completly unrelated field. I would like to know if I take classes AND then the CIA exam would I be a viable candidate for a job?

I am recently licensed as a Certified Internal Auditor. I doubt classes would help much unless they were specific ones. Database Management and CAAT Software like IDEA are particularly important, so getting comfortable with Microsoft Access or SQL would be quite prudent and smart. You can get demo versions of IDEA, but you have to have a pretty good orientation to Auditing in order to learn it, since the only training for it is done by Audimation Services and it is not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination.

Dennis Harris said: I am recently licensed as a Certified Internal Auditor. I doubt classes would help much unless they were specific ones. Database Management and CAAT Software like IDEA are particularly important, so getting comfortable with Microsoft Access or SQL would be quite prudent and smart. You can get demo versions of IDEA, but you have to have a pretty good orientation to Auditing in order to learn it, since the only training for it is done by Audimation Services and it is not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination.

Thank you for the response... if I may ask.. (not to get too personal) how much can one earn in that position.. Meaning does the compensation outweigh the cost of getting the certification?... Thanks

Comp for IA I dont actually know yet, but I can tell you this: Just getting out of school for Accounting, I got a job as an External Auditor for a regional CPA firm and made 35k a year salary. The CIA license is 160.00 a section (times 4 sections comes up to 640.00 total not including the Review kit) for non-members which is an incredibly good deal, especially considering the thousands of dollars to take/study/pass the Certified Public Accountant exam!

Hi Alec

Dennis has given you good answers. You should read (from the handbook) more about the requirements for the CIA.

www.theiia.org/certification/certified-internal-auditor/

Alec in Miami, Florida said: I would like to become an internal auditor. I am in financial services at the moment but a completly unrelated field. I would like to know if I take classes AND then the CIA exam would I be a viable candidate for a job?

If I'm remembering correctly, you have to have experience in internal auditing in order to receive the CIA certification. You will more than likely need an accounting background.

Re: experience in Internal Auditing to become certified

(Technically) you dont have to have this: It is either 24 months of Internal Audit/closely related field... or you can Substitute 12 months of this for either:
1) One year of professional experience in
Accounting, Law or Finance or..
2) A Masters Degree

See page 20 of the IIA's 09/28/2009 Candidate Handbook. This was derived word for word from its contents. You will need to have your professional experience forms filled out and submitted to determine if they qualify for these Exceptions. Mine was fairly fast, so they do tend to review/reply very efficiently when it comes to documentation and CIA licensing questions!

Dennis Harris said: Re: experience in Internal Auditing to become certified

(Technically) you dont have to have this: It is either 24 months of Internal Audit/closely related field... or you can Substitute 12 months of this for either:
1) One year of professional experience in
Accounting, Law or Finance or..
2) A Masters Degree

See page 20 of the IIA's 09/28/2009 Candidate Handbook. This was derived word for word from its contents. You will need to have your professional experience forms filled out and submitted to determine if they qualify for these Exceptions. Mine was fairly fast, so they do tend to review/reply very efficiently when it comes to documentation and CIA licensing questions!

Okay but that still leaves 12 months of internal/external audit experience. They won't just give you the license without some kind of audit experience. That's what I was talking about.

Correct. This was my problem as well, being as I could never get a job with a public CPA firm for a long time! It is kind of a Catch 22 type deal. The license wants a few years IA experience, but when you get to studying for the license you find out that the Internal Auditing promotes, suggests and expects a lot of diverse fields in the Internal Auditing dept, mostly from outside Accounting. In fact, they even have something in the Hiring aspect stating "An accounting background is not a requisite for hiring an Internal Auditor, as well as an IA dept with only Accounting Backgrounds is extremely limited in expertise and knowledgebase."

I recently received a promotion at my place of employment. I work for a financial institution, who is currently helping me through college. I worked in customer service for about 3 1/2 years before I applied for an Assistant Internal Auditor position. I think a part of the reason why I received the job was not only my work ethic but also because I currently am pursuing a degree in accounting. I am so lucky to be surrounded by CPAs and I know this job will open up many doors.

What I am saying is, you have to start somewhere. Put yourself out there and get people to know you. It is harder to shine when you work in the back where no one can see you.