A quality assurance and improvement program (QAIP) is an ongoing and periodic assessment of the entire spectrum of audit and consulting work performed by the internal audit activity. These ongoing and periodic assessments are composed of rigorous, comprehensive processes; continuous supervision and testing of internal audit and consulting work; and periodic validations of conformance with the Definition of Internal Auditing, the Code of Ethics, and the Standards. This also includes ongoing measurements and analyses of performance metrics (e.g., internal audit plan accomplishment, cycle time, areas for improvements through the QAIP.