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Senior internal auditor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Kelly Green,

Stacy Mastrolia Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical senior internal auditor skills. We ranked the top skills for senior internal auditors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 11.8% of senior internal auditor resumes contained internal audit as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a senior internal auditor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 senior internal auditor skills for your resume and career

1. Internal Audit

Internal audit is an evaluation process that ensures that a company's risk management, governing body, and other internal processes are running effectively. People who perform internal audits must be highly qualified, have experience, and knowledge to work accordingly with the international standards and the code of ethics.

Here's how senior internal auditors use internal audit:

Managed and coordinated all internal audit activities within Latin America including annual risk assessment to support audit schedule and calendar.
Performed various financial, operational or compliance audits/reviews as identified in the internal audit plan or requested by senior management.

2. Process Improvement

Here's how senior internal auditors use process improvement:

Identified financial reporting control gaps and/or process improvement opportunities, assisted in development of remediation plans and conducted validation reviews.
Achieved a plant operational process improvement that reduced operating costs significantly and realized an up to 10% productivity improvement.

3. Compliance Audits

A compliance audit is a report on the assessment of a company and its adherence to policies and regulatory guidelines. They evaluate the strength, policy adherence, user access, and risk and complex issue management.

Here's how senior internal auditors use compliance audits:

Served as internal auditor performing operational, financial and compliance audits, testing of processes and internal controls for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 requirements
Planned and coordinated operational and compliance audits and monitored overall audit progress to ensure timely and thorough completion of the audits.

4. SOX

Here's how senior internal auditors use sox:

Established internal controls processes for Parent Co. subsidiaries related to SOX section 404/COSO Integrated Internal Control Framework regulatory reporting.
Trained client financial personnel on internal control reporting requirements and management responsibilities associated with SOX compliance.

5. Audit Reports

Here's how senior internal auditors use audit reports:

Prepared written audit reports, reviewed with management and staff to identify operational deficiencies and opportunities to improve processes and performance.
Develop audit reports which identify compliance, control and cost effectiveness weaknesses and render appropriate, cost-effective recommendations for improvement.

6. Risk Management

Risk management is the method of recognizing, evaluating, and managing risks to an organization's resources and profits. Financial insecurity, regulatory liability, strategic management mistakes, incidents, and natural hazards are just some of the challenges or dangers that could arise. For digitalized businesses, IT security vulnerabilities and data-related threats, as well as risk management techniques to mitigate them, have become top priorities.

Here's how senior internal auditors use risk management:

Monitor post-testing activity to ensure that agreed follow-up actions are implemented to mitigate relevant risks and improve risk management practice
Tested human resource employee files to evaluate compliance with regulatory employment verification requirements and corporate hire risk management activities.

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7. Sarbanes-Oxley

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (or SOX Act) is a U.S. government law that expects to secure financial backers by making corporate divulgences more solid and transparent. The Act was created as a result of bookkeeping errors.

Here's how senior internal auditors use sarbanes-oxley:

Conducted audit reviews, documented business processes, and evaluated internal controls based on Sarbanes-Oxley good governance standards and policies.
Executed or reviewed Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls testing for various business processes and evaluate business systems to determine their efficiency and effectiveness

8. Audit Findings

Here's how senior internal auditors use audit findings:

Analyze and summarize audit findings, producing fact-based reports and actionable business recommendations to close gaps and eliminate redundancies.
Plan and conducted risk-based operational audits to identify audit findings that have material affect to business processes and policies.

9. Business Processes

Here's how senior internal auditors use business processes:

Evaluated the efficiency of business processes and communicated areas of opportunity for efficiency, profit improvement, or cost control.
Performed audits of various manufacturing operations and corporate departments to identify internal control deficiencies and propose improvements to business processes.

10. Professional Standards

Professional standards mean a set of ethics, practices, and behaviors that a particular professional group must follow or adhere to. Examples of such measures include accountability.

Here's how senior internal auditors use professional standards:

Conducted Internal Audits within various servicing departments ensuring that these audits are performed in accordance with professional standards and departmental procedures.
Execute audit in accordance with department and professional standards and complete assignments timely and efficiently.

11. Audit Programs

Here's how senior internal auditors use audit programs:

Developed audit program to include identifying, analyzing, evaluating, and recording sufficient information to achieve the audit program objectives.
Developed the company s first project management audit program and utilized it to review large international projects and a refinery expansion.

12. External Auditors

Here's how senior internal auditors use external auditors:

Partnered with external auditors and Federal agencies during examinations and thoroughly engaged in planning, coordination and analysis of financial statements.
Work with internal, external auditors and regulators to facilitate controls reviews by coordinating audits with internal resources.

13. Audit Procedures

Here's how senior internal auditors use audit procedures:

Executed detailed audit procedures, prepared work papers, recorded findings, recorded and summarized audit procedures performed.
Perform audit procedures to determine the reliability of internal control systems and document results.

14. COSO

Here's how senior internal auditors use coso:

Performed analysis of existing internal controls to determine if each control was effectively designed and written in accordance with COSO Framework.
Scheduled, planned, conducted fieldwork and report writing of audits using a COSO based audit methodology managing staff on audits.

15. Operational Audits

Here's how senior internal auditors use operational audits:

Managed domestic and international operational audits related to global sourcing, inventory management, and business continuity and disaster recovery functions.
Led and performed financial and operational audits of various North American and international divisions, focusing on internal control assessment.

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What skills help Senior Internal Auditors find jobs?

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What senior internal auditor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Kelly Green

Assistant Professor, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Education and Certificates pull a lot when determining the salaries and positions offered. Quite simply higher degrees and relevant certifications will lead to higher salaries. Aside from that, gaining experience and staying up to date with salary trends in your particular field of accounting will allow you to explore new opportunities with higher salaries.

What soft skills should all senior internal auditors possess?

Stacy Mastrolia Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Accounting, Bucknell University

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, accountants should possess analytical skills, critical-thinking skills, and communication skills. They should also be detail-oriented and possess strong math and organizational skills (www.bls.gov). Of course, we can all agree that technology and teamwork skills are also necessary for successful accountants.

While these skills are still in high demand for accountants, post-pandemic, I believe we will see an increased need for job candidates to demonstrate flexibility and adaptability. This year's graduates are entering a work environment that is not "traditional"; at this point it seems unlikely that this year's graduates will start their careers in a traditional office (or at a client) in close proximity to more experienced professionals who are immediately available to provide instruction and assistance. So, this year's graduates need to be prepared - professionally and emotionally - to adapt to the work environment in place at their employer. And they need to be prepared for that environment to change with little warning. This semester I am teaching almost exclusively undergraduate seniors, and at Bucknell we started classes in-person, after one week we went remote for two weeks and now we are back to in-person learning. During these transitions, I have found that some students are struggling to keep up with the material; they are falling behind and missing deadlines in far greater numbers than in previous semesters. The ability to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances while still accomplishing goals will be in great demand by employers.

I also think that graduates should place an emphasis on developing time-management skills and the ability to prioritize effectively. Alternative work environments, like working remotely, remove certain cues that the day is passing. For example, in a "normal" work day, a young professional would find routines including a mid-morning coffee break and lunch with friends or colleagues and these daily routines would help to mark the passing of time. When someone works from home, these cues may not occur naturally so time can "slip away". Also, working from home provides any number of distractions that may seem urgent in the moment but are not important to achieve that day's work goals; effectively prioritizing tasks in a distracting environment is a skill that will also be in great demand by employers.

Do you want to know more?

List of senior internal auditor skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a senior internal auditor resume and required skills for a senior internal auditor to have include:

Internal Audit
Process Improvement
Compliance Audits
SOX
Audit Reports
Risk Management
Sarbanes-Oxley
Audit Findings
Business Processes
Professional Standards
Audit Programs
External Auditors
Audit Procedures
COSO
Operational Audits
Audit Projects

Audit Issues
Data Analysis
Strong Analytical
GAAP
Audit Results
IIA
Audit Plan
Audit Process
Financial Audits
Audit Scope
Audit Committee
Excellent Interpersonal
Audit Assignments
Audit Engagements
Sox Testing
Risk Assessments

Regulatory Compliance
Hyperion
Teammate
Executive Management
Control Deficiencies
Internal Control Environment
HR
Corrective Action
Audit Objectives
ERP
Fraud Investigations
Provide Management
Due Diligence
Audit Recommendations
Develop Recommendations

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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