Chief Audit Executives' Assessment of Internal Auditors' Performance Attributes by Professional Rank and Cultural Cluster

This study explores chief audit executives' perceptions of the most important performance attributes of internal auditors by professional rank and cultural cluster. A large sample of chief audit executives (CAEs) from 19 countries located in five different cultural clusters was surveyed by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation (CBOK 2006). Analysis of data generated by that survey indicates that while leadership attributes (e.g., negotiating) are perceived to be most important for upper ranks in internal auditing, technical skills (e.g., analytical) are most important for lower ranks. Also, based on the cultural relativism literature, I hypothesize and find evidence that the importance of performance attributes differs significantly by cultural cluster. For example, while Latin-American CAEs rated leadership attributes at higher levels than other cultural clusters for internal audit staff, the East-European chief audit executives assessed the importance of technical skills at higher levels than other clusters. The results of the survey provide important initial empirical support to the list of "ideal'' and "desirable'' performance attributes for internal auditors recently developed by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA 2009).