Management of an area under review is aggressive, upset, and questioning the knowledge and experience of the organization’s internal auditors, as the audit results highlight critical findings. The relationship between the internal audit activity and management has continued to deteriorate, as previous audit reports also showed a large number of issues. What would be the best strategy for working through the current audit results while also attempting to repair the relationship with management?
The audit committee is concerned that the small size of the internal audit activity (IAA) makes it impractical to achieve full conformance with the Standards. To address this concern, which of the following actions is most appropriate for the CAE to take?