The process approach's contribution in internal auditing: An improved risk assessment for optimized processes

The traditional model deployed to ensure internal auditing mission is outdated. The internal auditing requires a new approach for the better restructuring and organizing the step to follow for this purpose. The function of internal auditing is recognized as a strong contributor to the development of governance practices across all sectors. It ensures an effective evaluation of the processes and controls within an organization. Furthermore, it provides an assurance about the compliance of the procedures with international standards, laws, regulations and strategies of the firm. As a fact, the internal audit function improves internal controls by understanding the functioning of the processes, analyzing the risks and identifying changes that must be conducted for an appropriate management action taken. The objectives are both to fill any gap in the risk management process of the firm and to optimize the operationalization of its processes. In this paper, we propose a new audit review process based on the process approach as advocated by the ISO9000:2000. We demonstrate how the process approach used in logistics fields contributes efficiently in internal auditing from the identification of the requirements, quality characteristics and resources of the process to the definition of the deliverables. We develop a new formalism of the internal auditing approach using the technique of meta modeling. The template increases the efficiency of quality process assessment by formalizing, firstly, a guide to be followed by internal auditors to analyze the process ‘as it’, secondly, a model that design the links between the concepts, actions and resources. Therefore, the proposed formalization integrates the operational, relational and structural spaces that take into consideration all the resources, actors and outputs of a process. We recommend a mixed-method approach that combines internal auditing practices, risk assessment practices and the process approach. Keywords: Internal Audit; Meta-model; Optimization; Process Approach, Risk Assessment JEL Classification: M42 Paper type: Theoretical Researc