Internal audit internship vs senior internal auditor

The differences between internal audit interns and senior internal auditors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a senior internal auditor has an average salary of $80,920, which is higher than the $30,264 average annual salary of an internal audit internship.

The top three skills for an internal audit internship include internal audit, data analytics and SOX. The most important skills for a senior internal auditor are internal audit, process improvement, and compliance audits.

Internal audit internship vs senior internal auditor overview

	Internal Audit Internship	Senior Internal Auditor
Yearly salary	$30,264	$80,920
Hourly rate	$14.55	$38.90
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	62,780	24,545
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	-

What does an internal audit internship do?

An internal audit intern is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties as needed for the financial department under the supervision of tenured staff or a direct manager. Internal audit interns shadow staff on analyzing and preparing documents, familiarizing office operations, writing financial reports, verifying account statements, and escalating financial discrepancies to management for immediate resolution. An internal audit intern must be detail-oriented, as well as possess excellent analytical and organizational skills to handle tasks efficiently and spot audit inconsistencies.

What does a senior internal auditor do?

A Senior Internal Auditor performs the planning and execution of regulatory, financial, and operational audits. They supervise auditors work and make recommendations through giving them review notes.

Internal audit internship vs senior internal auditor salary

Internal audit interns and senior internal auditors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Internal Audit Internship	Senior Internal Auditor
Average salary	$30,264	$80,920
Salary range	Between $12,000 And $71,000	Between $62,000 And $105,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	California
Best paying company	MDU Resources	Netflix
Best paying industry	Energy	Finance

Differences between internal audit internship and senior internal auditor education

There are a few differences between an internal audit internship and a senior internal auditor in terms of educational background:

	Internal Audit Internship	Senior Internal Auditor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Internal audit internship vs senior internal auditor demographics

Here are the differences between internal audit interns' and senior internal auditors' demographics:

	Internal Audit Internship	Senior Internal Auditor
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 50.7% Female, 49.3%	Male, 61.4% Female, 38.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 18.5% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.0% Asian, 12.3% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between internal audit internship and senior internal auditor duties and responsibilities

Internal audit internship example responsibilities.

Test Sarbanes-Oxley controls for institutional billing, wholesaler incentive compensation, retail manage account revenue, and journal entry processing.
Review management's SOX testing, identify exceptions and communicate to management.
Perform basic bookkeeping, keeping accurate track of numerous transactions per GAAP standards.
Perform substantive testing of revenue, purchases, and payments in order to evaluate accuracy and compliance with GAAP.
Gather audit evidence/supporting documentation for the SOX compliance audit.
Document internal controls, conduct financial statement analysis, and perform daily tasks on Sarbanes-Oxley testing.

Senior internal auditor example responsibilities.

Schedule, plan, conduct fieldwork and report writing of audits using a COSO base audit methodology managing staff on audits.
Manage and coordinate annual external business evaluation in conjunction with CPA consultants.
Conduct audit reviews, document business processes, and evaluate internal controls base on Sarbanes-Oxley good governance standards and policies.
Execute or review Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls testing for various business processes and evaluate business systems to determine their efficiency and effectiveness
Enhance work paper standards according to IIA framework.
Confirm that internal controls are properly map to financial statement assertions to ensure that all COSO assertions are met.

Internal audit internship vs senior internal auditor skills

Common internal audit internship skills

Internal Audit, 22%
Data Analytics, 8%
SOX, 5%
Patients, 5%
Sarbanes-Oxley, 4%
Risk Management, 4%

Common senior internal auditor skills

Internal Audit, 12%
Process Improvement, 8%
Compliance Audits, 7%
SOX, 5%
Audit Reports, 4%
Risk Management, 4%

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Internal Audit Internship
Internal Audit Internship vs Senior Internal Auditor

Updated January 8, 2025

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