Full Internal Audit Out-sourcing
A full outsourcing of a discrete component of the internal audit plan may be an effective solution for some organizations. An out-sourcing model assigns specific business units or processes, responsibility and accountability for the execution of the internal audit program. In a fully out-sourced model PwC executes the audit program using its own staff and manages the complete internal audit function and reports directly to the audit committee or responsible dedicated member of senior management. From our client’s perspective, out-sourcing allows the effectiveness of the relationship to be measured based on agreed outcomes negotiated at the initiation of a project or a portion of the audit plan.
Out-sourcing can be very effective in complex areas requiring a depth of resources and experience not resident in the function, in areas such as marketing, trading, derivatives, environmental, health and safety, information security and other technical areas. A full internal audit out-sourcing approach can also work well when your company has discrete but unique business units requiring specialized industry knowledge.
Internal Audit Co-sourcing and Staff Augmentation
In a collaborative co-sourcing relationship, PwC teams cooperate directly with the internal audit staff to assist in all aspects of audit planning, risk assessment and execution. The emphasis in a collaborative relationship is to provide a mix of necessary resource levels to the internal audit team to assist the department execute its plan. Typically, the specific skill sets and focus of PwC’s resources is agreed upon at initiation. Special resources always available to the internal audit team on an as, and when needed basis. In such internal audit partnership with our clients PwC takes on a variety of roles and responsibilities but reports to the dedicated internal auditor in-charge.
