Continuous Improvement
A fundamental principle of the QAIP through which the internal audit function continuously evaluates and enhances its processes, methodology, and effectiveness. This includes implementation of quality assessment findings, stakeholder feedback, and emerging best practices.
Source: IIA GIAS 2024, Multiple Standards
Continuous Improvement is, within internal audit, the principle that the function continuously evaluates and enhances its processes, methodology and effectiveness. It is a core component of the Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP): quality is not a one-off snapshot around an assessment but a structural way of working. Continuous improvement includes processing findings from quality assessments, using stakeholder feedback and adopting emerging best practices.
For the board, the supervisory board and the audit committee, continuous improvement is the difference between a function that meets the Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS) 2024 and one that grows beyond them. An audit function that keeps developing delivers more relevant work, stays aligned with changing risks and therefore earns greater trust from oversight bodies. It also shows that the Chief Audit Executive (CAE) treats quality as an ongoing responsibility rather than a box to tick before an external assessment.
In practice, continuous improvement runs through a recognisable cycle. Findings from ongoing monitoring and periodic internal assessments are captured, prioritised and translated into concrete improvement actions with an owner and a deadline. The outcomes of an External Quality Assessment (EQA), feedback from auditees and the audit committee, and new professional insights all feed the improvement agenda. Crucially, improvements are monitored for effect, so the cycle genuinely closes rather than stalling in good intentions.
ONE Risk Advisory embeds continuous improvement in the quality programme, so that quality is not a snapshot but a steady practice. We help set up the improvement loop pragmatically: measure, prioritise, improve and measure again, scaled to the size and maturity of the function. In this way, meeting the Standards becomes a starting point rather than a finish line.
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Frequently asked questions
Is continuous improvement mandatory under the Standards?
Yes. Continuous improvement is a fundamental principle of the Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP) prescribed by the Global Internal Audit Standards 2024. A function is expected to keep sharpening its way of working structurally, not only around an assessment.
How do you make continuous improvement visible to the audit committee?
By recording improvement actions with an owner and deadline, measuring their effect and reporting progress periodically. This lets the audit committee see that assessment findings actually lead to better audit quality.
What feeds an audit function's improvement agenda?
Findings from ongoing monitoring and internal assessments, the outcomes of an External Quality Assessment (EQA), feedback from auditees and the audit committee, and new professional insights. Together they form the input for concrete improvement actions.
Is continuous improvement the same as the EQA?
No. The EQA is a periodic external assessment, whereas continuous improvement is the ongoing practice that keeps sharpening the function between assessments. The EQA feeds improvement but does not replace it.