Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors

The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors is the only professional membership body exclusively for internal auditors in the UK and Ireland.

We represent the profession of internal audit by developing it, raising its profile, and providing a voice for it. This we achieve through the delivery of various products and services, including qualifications, training courses, events and research publications. We also have a dedicated bi-monthly magazine (Audit & Risk Magazine) and a dedicated job site (Internal Audit & Risk Jobs).

We have over 10,000 members across the UK and Ireland. They are part of the Global IIA, which has some 180,000 members in roughly 190 countries.

As a membership body, we are managed both by a council of directors and by our staff. Our council of directors is made up of volunteer members and our Chief Executive. Together they are responsible for setting our strategic direction and for developing our goals and objectives. They are accountable to our members.

What sets us apart is our Royal Charter and our exclusive foothold in the UK and Ireland. We occupy a unique position nationally as a membership body and continue to build on this by advancing the profession.

We advance the profession by growing our influence (most notably through harnessing good corporate governance in responses to corporate collapses); building on our policy and research programme (which continues to go from strength to strength); championing professional development (through the opportunities we provide for growth and accreditation); and focusing on the future.

Our Royal Charter gives us the unique ability to grant chartered internal auditor status to our members. Members who have either completed our approved qualification or have been assessed via our Chartered by Experience (CBE) route.

Our story is one of humble beginnings. Our Institute began life in 1948 as a group of likeminded men and women committed to best practice. We started with a simple aim – to forge a London chapter of what was then a largely US mission (led by IIA Global in America) and before we knew it, word spread nationally, with groupings forming in Birmingham, the Northwest, The Northeast and Scotland. In 1975, these five groups merged to form what is now the Chartered IIA – a name which we still use today.

A present aim of ours is to increase collaboration within the profession, which we are delivering on with the help of our community hub: an exclusive space on our website for all our community-focused activities and endeavours.

Featured in this hub are our special interest groups, which give a voice to all manner of sectors and job functions connected to the profession, and our virtual forums, aimed at heads of internal audit and internal auditors in local authorities. There you’ll also find links to our dedicated live stream series, Talk to Internal Audit, which runs on Facebook and YouTube providing an additional outlet for members to learn and develop with us. As well as our regional network, who represent us nationally, and volunteering opportunities.