New Frontiers for Internal Audit Research

Internal audit provides useful and valuable services to organizations, and academic research has established its importance in improving corporate governance. However, the body of internal audit research is still relatively small. Indeed, there are many emerging, lesser-known topics and practitioners would like guidance. The primary focus of this paper is to make specific recommendations for future research based on surveys, interviews, and discussions with practitioners. We identify three broad areas for additional academic research: innovation in information technology, staffing and personnel development, and agile auditing. In each area, we describe current practices and discuss the relevant accounting literature, noting gaps where additional inquiry is needed. We also provide a list of testable research ideas to help inform academics about practice-relevant research questions that would not only add to the academic literature, but would benefit practitioners who seek guidance. We hope this paper will inspire more academic research that investigates important internal audit questions.