Internal Auditors Changing Gears

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Another way to make up for the lack of internal-audit resources is to train your staff to do more strategic and operational auditing, suggests Singer. Companies are also bringing in "guest auditors" from other departments, although that's harder to do at a small organization.

The higher expectations put on internal auditors will be a boon for the profession, according to Singer. "The fact that we are asking internal audit to have a different focus going forward, beyond compliance, to a more strategic and operational focus on the surface looks like a challenge. But I think it's a tremendous opportunity for the industry," he says. It could further elevate the role as companies are looking at the internal audit department to be an "incubator for talent," opening up the possibilities for an internal auditor's next career move.

To be sure, it's up to the internal auditors themselves to prove their worth, observers suggest. After all, "internal auditors by nature have not been good salesmen," notes Richards.

Now that they should have direct connection to audit committees and senior managers, they should also be able to better market themselves than they could have pre-Sarbox. They can do that by documenting changes they made that resolved a problem found during an audit, for example. In addition, they could more closely align themselves with other organizations within their company — while still maintaining their independence — to understand those organizations' issues and problems so that a final audit opinion will not end up sounding like a one-sided judgment call.