From an audit committee member perspective, Beasley et al. (2009) find that internal audit’s
reporting relationship with the audit committee and management often is ‘‘murky.’’ The authors
state, ‘‘There is significant potential for internal audit’s loyalties to be divided as a result of multiple reporting channels’’ (Beasley et al. 2009, 102). Abbott et al. (2010) report a strong positive relationship between oversight of internal audit by the audit committee and the share of internal audit’s budget devoted to internal-control-based activities. In addition, the study finds that the audit committee shares a near-equal oversight role with management related to the internal audit function.2 Hoos, d’Arcy, and Messier (2013) examine internal auditors’ judgments in an experimental setting and find that auditors facing a complex task shape their actions to the preferences of management or the audit committee, depending on the instructions they receive from their superior. This result suggests that accountability to management or the audit committee can influence internal auditors’ judgments