When assessing internal auditors’ competence, SAS No.
65 recommends the consideration of characteristics relating
to internal auditors’ personal qualifications as well as
ones involving the operations of the internal audit function.
The personal qualifications include education level,
having continuing education, professional experience, certification,
and performance evaluations of individual internal
auditors. Aside from acting as a measure of
competence, certification may also be indicative about
internal auditors’ integrity. Berry, Harwood, and Katz
(1987) found that false sign-off rates on audit procedures
by internal auditors were higher among those who were
not certified compared to those who had certification.
SAS No. 65 does not specifically mention internal auditors’
integrity as an attribute that the external auditors should
consider, but it goes without saying that one cannot rely
on someone whose integrity is low. Hence, internal auditor
certification should give external auditors more comfort
about the internal auditors’ integrity so that a decision to
rely on their work would be less questionable due to concerns
about integrity.