Organizational aspects of the internal audit of Italian corporate groups

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to explore some organizational aspects of the activity of Internal Audit (IA) in corporate groups. Having noted the limited literature on the subject, the authors intend to make a scientific contribution with the intention of reducing the existing gap in said literature, paying particular attention to the Italian context. In addition to expanding the knowledge of scholars and professionals in this sector, the content of the paper may be of support to the governing bodies of a corporate group, offering insights to better organize the function of IA and to ensure that activities are more efficient and effective for all entities of the group. Purpose. The Internal Audit’s organizational aspects are particularly complex within corporate groups. The paper focuses on: a) the Internal Audit operating model that can be adopted: in-house solutions rather than outsourcing solutions; b) the organization structure adopted for manage the activities of the Internal Audit Function.