Governance

Internal audit

Formal definition

In governance, Internal audit refers to an assurance process used for conducting external reviews, meeting constitutional duties, and addressing internal audit recommendations to maintain governance oversight.

What this actually means for you

For day-to-day delivery, Internal audit should be documented clearly and applied consistently; test procedures against industry maturity scales, track remedial actions, and comply with core document powers.

Example: During a planned change window, teams apply Internal audit as follows: the audit committee logs audit responses and trustee officers review governing documents to verify delegation powers. They then update evidence logs, findings summaries, and remediation actions for the next cycle.

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