Report: How Internal Audit Can Play a Role in Driving a Healthy Organisational Culture

Many organisations still don’t assess company culture in a meaningful way, despite the serious risks an unhealthy one poses. In this report, see the results of AuditBoard’s 2023 Organisational Culture and Ethics Survey, learn about the role internal auditors can play in fostering a healthier culture at their organisations, and get a culture assessment toolkit to help you understand the maturity of your culture risk management and how you can get started with providing assurance.

Major corporate failures often share something in common: the lack of a healthy, ethical organisational culture. But despite the headlines and increased scrutiny by stakeholders and regulators alike, many organisations still aren’t assessing their culture. This is an area where internal auditors have an enormous opportunity to provide executives and the board with assurance, strategic recommendations, current trends, competitive benchmarking, and independent assessment reports on the health of the culture.

To help you get started, download a copy of AuditBoard’s 2023 Organisational Culture and Ethics Report. Based on the results of a survey of 350+ internal audit leaders across industries, use it to benchmark your organisation and understand the answers to questions like:

•  What are top indicators of culture risk?
  • Key finding: 68% of respondents identified “poor tone at the top/executives don’t live values.”
• What are viewed as the most valuable benefits of a healthy culture?
  • Key finding: 38% of respondents selected “higher levels of employee engagement, satisfaction, and well-being.”
• Who has the greatest influence on culture?
  • Key finding: Respondents mainly named leadership — the CEO and/or founders (76%), line managers (65%), and other C-suite members (60%).
• Are other organisations assessing culture, and what methods are they using to do so?
  •  Key finding: 37% said they do not undertake a formal assessment of culture.

The report also includes a detailed culture assessment toolkit with a maturity model to help drive internal audit’s planning and execution and key actions to take, such as defining healthy culture principles and risk indicators, and important questions to discuss with the board and audit committee.