As such, they are in the best position to assist and advise Management on developing the broad principles that should govern the risk management and internal control environment. On the other hand, to be effective, internal auditors need to be independent and cannot assume a line-management role for control activities, including those they helped to design.
Accordingly, internal auditors need to be continually alert to conflicts of interest. It is a situation that calls for delicate professional judgment to promote a win-win situation. Let me close by again emphasizing that by and large our internal audit profession has served the country well.