ABSTRACT
The broader assurance role required by management and the opportunity to be involved in assessing the effectiveness of governance and risk management are both exciting and challenging developments. In mid-2000, it completed a piece of research to determine the expectations of Financial Directors in the FTSE 250 companies towards Internal Audit and its future. This research was repeated in mid-2002 and again in 2004. This clearly recognises the significant role taken by many Internal Audit functions in leading or facilitating the Corporate Governance programme. More than half the organisations reported that their Internal Audit function had taken a leading role in governance evaluation and reporting. Internal Audit is also now much more likely to supplement their resources on an ad-hoc basis from outside the company. Internal Auditors must become anticipators of future contexts and risks. Given that interpersonal awareness is a critical aspect of the modern audit role the more preparation the better.
