Having been consumed with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects for the past four years, 24 percent of companies report their internal audit departments have achieved "rebalancing" – a renewed focus on their traditional responsibilities that is balanced with compliance activities.  This number is more than double the response (10 percent) from a similar survey conducted in 2005 by Protiviti.

The results of Protiviti's second Internal Audit Rebalancing study are detailed in its report, "Moving Internal Audit Back Into Balance."  The survey was conducted from October 2006 through January 2007, when the first wave of companies reached Year Three of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Among the key findings of the survey:

• Internal auditors see new benefits in rebalancing. Nearly half of internal auditors polled cited "being able to perform more traditional audits" as the top benefit derived from rebalancing.  This was greater than the combined response for the next three benefits, including "more appropriate coverage of risk," which was the top-ranked benefit in the previous survey.
  
  
• Year Three is a turning point for many internal audit departments. A large majority of organizations that have achieved rebalancing – 80 percent – are in Year Three of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
  
  "Perspective is everything," said Bob Hirth, managing director for Protiviti and head of the company's global internal audit practice. "By the third year, organizations have a better understanding of what does and does not work with their Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts, and internal auditors have adapted to increased workloads and responsibilities. They have a deeper understanding of the regulations and view compliance as a long-term process instead of a short-term project."
  
  
• Rebalancing gains momentum quickly. Once they initiated efforts, 45 percent of companies took about one year to achieve rebalancing, while 28 percent required less than one year.
  
  
• Rebalancing strategies continue to evolve. The three rebalancing strategies most widely employed among internal audit departments are:  reducing the total population of controls (45 percent), reducing the number of key controls (37 percent), and increasing reliance on internal audit by external auditors (34 percent). However, when assessing strategies that are planned for rebalancing, the survey results suggest "greater reliance on internal auditing by external auditors" will be the most popular approach in the coming years.
  
  
• Internal audit departments are demonstrating resilience and creativity in their approach to rebalancing.  Most often, internal audit departments are rescoping their workload (59 percent), increasing ownership by process owners (55 percent) and reallocating resources (52 percent). Compared to the previous survey, noticeably fewer are rebalancing without adding resources. 
  
  
• Internal auditors have kept it in-house. A majority of organizations made limited use of external assistance in their rebalancing efforts (43 percent), while some used none at all (27 percent). In most cases, outside consultants were relied upon by some organizations until additional internal audit professionals were hired. Others leveraged external assistance to lead the initial process design, and only during Year One.

To obtain a complimentary copy of "Moving Internal Audit Back into Balance," please visit www.protiviti.com or call 888-556-7420.