Change has never happened this fast, and it will never happen this slow again. Global recession, pandemic, geopolitical conflict, artificial intelligence, hybrid work, drones, digital disruption, entire industries upended overnight.
Over the course of my 33-year career, I've never experienced more change than I see today. And yet, if there's one thing we should have learned by now, it's that change only accelerates, so, in 10 years, we're likely to look back on this period and, to some extent, recall that things seemed more manageable.
There is no roadmap to accurately predict the future. No workaround for escaping or even navigating the disruptive changes that now seem to occur with frightening frequency.
As the leader of a global organization, it's never been more difficult to predict, manage, or keep pace and react to change. But maybe that's the problem. If all we do is sit back and merely react to change, we'll never be able to get ahead. We'll always be passengers along for the ride. What if the answer isn't to predict the future, but instead to create it? Designing a roadmap to help the internal audit profession determine its own future is the goal of an ambitious pioneering initiative led by The IIA's Internal Audit Foundation.
This project, titled "Internal Audit: Vision 2035 – Creating Our Future Together" aims to shape and define what the internal audit profession may look like in 2035, with a goal of understanding the steps we need to take along the way. The outcomes of this project will provide a clear-eyed vision of how we move the profession forward and collectively elevate the value of internal audit in the years ahead.
One of our priorities with this project is to create profession-wide enthusiasm for the opportunities that lie ahead, and to raise awareness of the potential challenges that internal auditors may face, such as artificial intelligence, ESG and cybersecurity.
Vision 2035 is unique in the profession's history, and it's one of the most important and ambitious projects that I've been a part of during my career. Our findings will be data-driven, with both qualitative and quantitative research gathered by an independent research team. The project begins by assessing the current perception of internal audit. This approach is simple, but important: If you don't know where you're starting from, it's hard to know how to get to where you're going.
It's been said that "the best way to predict the future is to create it." The internal audit profession finds itself at an inflection point where we must decide whether to be proactive and create our own future, or sit back and merely respond to change.
We're currently engaging with stakeholders through a series of focus groups, panel discussions, question and answer sessions, in-depth interviews and a quantitative survey. These insights will help us paint a clear picture of the current state of the profession and address questions like:
- How is the role, scope and value of the internal audit profession evolving?
- How will ongoing emerging risks and external trends, such as technological advancements, continue to shape the profession?
- What is the current perception of the profession, and how can we further enhance awareness and understanding?
In total, we'll benefit from the perspective of more than 3,000 voices from around the globe. We are committed to actively engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders, including students, educators, government entities, regulators, board members, C-suite executives and leaders of other professional organizations. This engagement is vital to enhance our understanding of how the profession is viewed externally by our most critical stakeholders. With this information, we'll then create a forward-looking, aspirational view of how we can evolve. This approach will allow us to map out the specific steps we need to take in the years ahead.
This type of future-focused project is critical during a period of significant change. It allows for decisive, proactive action taken from a position of strength rather than reacting to regulatory, legislative and geopolitical developments in isolation. In the face of both anticipated change and the inevitable unforeseen challenges that lie ahead, the clear and actionable results of the Vision 2035 Project will serve as our compass.
We launched this project with no preconceived notions, and I'm confident that our willingness to be guided by the feedback we receive will better position The IIA to lead the profession through a world that's constantly changing. While this project is primarily focused on the internal audit profession broadly, we recognize that it will have an impact on our overall strategic plan and how we tailor our initiatives to support internal audit and the public interest moving forward.
I'm incredibly excited about the future of the internal audit profession, and I believe this project will help build momentum and enthusiasm among internal auditors worldwide.
I encourage as many of our members and stakeholders as possible to join us on this journey. More than 600 individuals have already registered to participate and share their voices. We have also already conducted approximately 20 focus groups with practitioners at different stages of their careers.
If you're interested in learning more about the Vision2035 project, you can visit:
