A global manufacturing company has three regional offices. The chief audit executive (CAE) is concerned about the cost of an upcoming external quality assessment of the internal audit activity. The…

Question

Options

• ARequest from the audit committee an additional budget and an extension so that the external
• BReview the results of the internal assessment, identify weaknesses, and implement improvements
• CRequest the regional office that performed the internal assessment to perform an assessment of
• DRequest that an external assessor validate the results of the internal assessment and review the

• A
  74% (35)
• B
  15% (7)
• C
  4% (2)
• D
  6% (3)

Explanation

Under IIA Standard 1312, an external quality assessment must be conducted at least once every five years. Since the last external assessment was six years ago, the internal audit activity is already out of conformance - cost concerns do not exempt compliance, so the CAE's only conforming path is to secure the budget from the audit committee and complete the overdue external assessment (Option A).

Why the distractors fail:

• B is insufficient - reviewing internal assessment results and fixing weaknesses is good practice but does not satisfy the mandatory external assessment requirement that is now overdue.
• C is still an internal assessment - having one regional office assess another does not qualify as "external" under the Standards, regardless of the geographic separation.
• D is a partial measure - having an external assessor validate only the internal assessment results falls short of a full external quality assessment as required by the Standards.

Memory tip: Think of the 5-year rule as a hard deadline, not a guideline. When a question mentions the last external assessment was more than five years ago, the answer will almost always prioritize getting the external assessment done - budget and logistics are obstacles for the CAE to solve, not reasons to defer or substitute.

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