According to the findings from Protiviti’s 2020 Next Generation Internal Audit Survey, chief audit executives (CAEs) and internal audit leaders report their next-generation competency levels in three vital areas to be remarkably low. There is a danger that, if increasing these competencies and transforming the audit process is not viewed as a priority by internal audit leaders and brought in alignment with the evolving expectations of stakeholders, the internal audit function will begin to lose relevance and cede its responsibilities to other sources of assurance.

This article explains the survey results and outlines how audit leaders can deliver in these changed and challenging conditions.