Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Chief of Audit

💰 $ - $

AuditRiskComplianceFinanceExecutive

🎯 Role Definition

The Chief of Audit (Head of Internal Audit / Internal Audit Director) leads the enterprise internal audit function to provide independent assurance on risk management, internal controls, governance, and regulatory compliance. This senior leader develops and executes a risk-based audit strategy, oversees Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) testing and financial control reviews, leverages data analytics to increase audit coverage, and partners with senior management and the Audit Committee to strengthen control environments and drive continuous improvement across the organization.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Manager / Director, Internal Audit
  • Head of Risk Management or Operational Risk
  • External Audit Senior Manager (Big Four or regional firms)

Advancement To:

  • Chief Risk Officer (CRO)
  • Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
  • Board-level Audit Committee Advisor / Non-Executive Director

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Compliance
  • Director, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
  • Head of Financial Controls / SOX

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, own and execute a comprehensive, risk-based internal audit plan that aligns with corporate strategy, enterprise risk assessments, and Audit Committee priorities, ensuring efficient allocation of audit resources across business units and geographies.
  • Lead, coach and develop a high-performing internal audit team including hiring, performance management, formal training programs, and career pathing to build technical depth in financial, operational, IT and compliance auditing.
  • Serve as the primary liaison to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors; prepare and present timely, transparent reports on audit findings, risk trends, control gaps, management action plans, and audit plan status.
  • Design and maintain the Internal Audit Charter, audit policies and procedures to ensure independence, objectivity and compliance with professional standards (IIA, ISO where applicable).
  • Oversee Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) internal control testing and remediation programs for a public company environment, coordinating cross-functional stakeholders to ensure timely closure of control deficiencies.
  • Lead enterprise fraud risk assessments and manage complex investigations in coordination with legal, compliance and HR, ensuring evidence preservation, escalation and remediation where appropriate.
  • Drive audit methodology modernization by implementing continuous auditing, data analytics, robotic process automation (RPA) use cases and audit management technology to increase audit coverage and insights.
  • Conduct and oversee risk assessments and control evaluations for major transformational programs including M&A integrations, ERP implementations (SAP/Oracle/Workday), strategic initiatives, and large-scale outsourcing arrangements.
  • Provide advisory and consulting services to senior management on control design, remediation strategies, and risk mitigation for emerging business models, products and regulatory changes.
  • Coordinate with external auditors and regulatory examiners to optimize coverage, reduce duplication, and ensure alignment on key control testing and remediation plans.
  • Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for the internal audit function (e.g., audit cycle time, remediation timeliness, findings severity distribution) and report progress to the Audit Committee and executive leadership.
  • Manage the internal audit budget, resourcing mix (insourced/co-sourced/outsourced), vendor relationships and procurement of audit technologies and specialized subject-matter expertise.
  • Oversee IT general controls (ITGC), security and application control reviews in partnership with IT risk and cybersecurity functions; ensure integration of IT audit and cyber assurance into the audit plan.
  • Evaluate business processes and operational controls across finance, treasury, procurement, sales, operations and supply chain, identifying control deficiencies and recommending cost-effective remediation and process improvements.
  • Lead post-implementation reviews and assurance for significant capital projects and strategic investments to validate benefits realization and control effectiveness.
  • Promote and embed strong governance practices and a risk-aware culture across the organization by partnering with HR, compliance, legal and business leaders on training, awareness and accountability programs.
  • Provide thought leadership on regulatory developments (e.g., SEC, FINRA, GDPR, industry-specific regulators) and ensure the audit plan addresses compliance and reputational risk exposures.
  • Ensure timely escalation of high-risk or systemic control issues and work with executive management to design, approve and oversee remediation plans with clear owners and timelines.
  • Lead quarterly and annual enterprise risk and control workshops with business leaders to refresh risk priorities and adjust audit coverage accordingly.
  • Oversee quality assurance and improvement programs (QAIP) for the internal audit activity, including periodic external assessments, to maintain conformance with IIA Standards and to continuously enhance audit quality.
  • Drive post-audit follow-up activities to validate remediation effectiveness, close findings, and capture lessons learned for process improvement and risk prevention.
  • Collaborate with finance and legal teams to support external financial reporting, tax, regulatory filings and litigation-related controls assessments when required.
  • Champion data privacy and regulatory compliance audits (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) to evaluate the effectiveness of privacy controls and data governance frameworks.
  • Advise on and participate in crisis response and incident management (e.g., cybersecurity incidents, regulatory investigations) to provide independent assurance and control improvement recommendations.
  • Establish cross-functional working groups to address recurring issues, systemic control weaknesses and to implement preventative controls across the enterprise.

Secondary Functions

  • Maintain and optimize relationships with external audit firms, co-sourcing partners, third-party specialists and industry peer groups to access best practices, benchmarking and specialized technical skills.
  • Build and maintain a library of audit analytics, scripts and dashboards to enable continuous monitoring and risk detection across finance, payroll, procurement and other key processes.
  • Provide training and awareness sessions for business leaders and process owners to strengthen control ownership and remediation accountability.
  • Support periodic enterprise risk management (ERM) initiatives by providing audit perspectives on top risks, emerging threats and mitigations.
  • Participate in vendor risk assessments and third-party assurance reviews to validate outsourced provider controls and contractual compliance.
  • Advise on internal control implications for new products, services or markets and provide gating reviews prior to commercial launch.
  • Maintain audit documentation standards, data retention and confidentiality protocols consistent with legal and regulatory expectations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep knowledge of internal audit standards, methodologies and frameworks (IIA Standards, COSO Internal Control Framework, COBIT for IT controls, ISO standards).
  • Proven experience leading Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance programs, including scoping, testing, deficiency remediation and reporting.
  • Strong financial statement and accounting background with the ability to assess complex financial controls and financial reporting risks.
  • Proficiency with audit analytics tools and languages (ACL/IDEA, SQL, Python/R for analytics, Power BI/Tableau for visualization).
  • Experience with enterprise systems and ERP controls (SAP, Oracle, Workday, NetSuite) and testing application controls.
  • Knowledge of IT general controls (ITGC), cybersecurity control frameworks and experience coordinating IT and cyber audits.
  • Familiarity with regulatory and industry-specific requirements (SEC, PCAOB-related considerations, GDPR, HIPAA, Basel/FS industry regs).
  • Hands-on experience with audit management software and workflow tools (TeamMate, AuditBoard, Galvanize/HighBond, Vault, Jira).
  • Strong investigative skills for fraud detection, forensic reviews and conducting root cause analysis.
  • Budgeting, resource planning and vendor management skills for managing co-sourced/outsourced audit engagements.
  • Data governance, privacy and data protection controls knowledge to lead privacy/compliance assurance reviews.
  • Project management and change management capabilities to lead large-scale audit-related transformations and continuous audit implementations.

Soft Skills

  • Executive presence and polished communication skills for Board and Audit Committee interaction, including concise presentation of complex issues.
  • Strategic thinking and business acumen to align audit priorities with organizational objectives and risk appetite.
  • Influencing and stakeholder management skills to drive remediation, secure resources and gain buy-in from senior leaders.
  • Strong leadership and people development skills; ability to mentor, retain and scale audit teams.
  • High ethical standards, independence of judgment and the ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters.
  • Critical thinking, curiosity and problem-solving orientation to identify root causes and pragmatic remediation.
  • Adaptability and resiliency in a fast-changing regulatory and technological environment.
  • Collaborative mindset to partner across finance, IT, compliance, legal and operations while preserving audit objectivity.
  • Time and priority management skills to balance audit quality with operational and strategic demands.
  • Coaching and facilitation skills to build control ownership across the business.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Business Administration or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree (MBA, Master of Accounting, MS in Information Systems) or equivalent advanced credential.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Information Systems / Cybersecurity
  • Business Administration
  • Risk Management / Audit

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 12–20+ years of progressive experience in internal audit, external audit (Big Four experience highly desirable), risk management or related assurance functions.

Preferred:

  • 15+ years of experience with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role overseeing enterprise internal audit for a multi-national or public company; demonstrable experience interacting with the Audit Committee and executive leadership; prior experience leading SOX programs, IT/cyber audits, and large-scale enterprise transformations.

Certifications (highly desirable): Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), CRMA, or relevant industry certifications.

Explore More Careers