The CAE & CFO Relationship: Partnership For Success
This topic fits in very well to the Conference theme of The Agile Auditor in the Age of Disrution. It will intoduce thought provoking themes for Audit Departments to break away from reporting to the CFO function or enable them to see how to partner with this function to create dramatic change in their organizations.
CAEs who report to the CFO are still fairly common. According to the Audit Executive Center, about 40 percent of North American CAEs still report administratively to the CFO. As a result, there remains a widespread perception that internal audit is a CFO function. We need strong working relationships with our CFOs, but we also need independence and flexibility to evaluate financial information and to establish audit plans without undue influence (or even the perception of influence). Most CAEs could probably establish a strong working relationship with any member of their executive management team, but how can we use the CFO position to gain entry to new areas in the organization and impact both financial and operational areas.