The future auditor has arrived. It’s a bold statement — and it’s true.

The future auditor is a vision, inspired partly by the definition of internal auditing from The Institute of Internal Auditors: ‘‘an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations.’’

When Protiviti first articulated this vision in 2014, we explained that the future auditor, once personified, would be recognized as a ‘‘positive change agent’’ in the organization. We also asserted that chief audit executives (CAEs) who embraced this vision would be ‘‘better positioned to demonstrate to executive management and the board the value contributed by internal audit through their comprehensive risk focus and forward-looking, change-oriented and highly adaptive behavior.’’

Six years later, we see that many internal audit leaders around the globe have answered that call to action — and are committed to bringing forth a next-generation internal audit function. They, and their teams, have disrupted their function’s status quo by thinking differently about how internal audit performs its work and delivers results that do, in fact, add value to the business.

Featured Companies

The organizations profiled in the latest edition represent a cross section of countries and industries, including Campari Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Microsoft Corporation, Milaha, Olympus Corporation, Rabobank, Salesforce, SF Express, Starbucks Coffee Company, TopBuild Corp. and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

The new edition of Internal Auditing Around the World addresses how internal audit is seizing — as well as creating — opportunities to use technology, including emerging tools like robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence, not only to increase their overall efficiency and productivity, but also to innovate. Eleven organizations were interviewed and their experiences dealing with this transformation are presented as case studies in the book.