Gene is a new staff-level auditor on the audit of CalPower, a publicly traded energy and utility company. On his first day, his senior informs him that the engagement team is scheduled to have lunch with the internal auditor to discuss ways to improve this year’s audit. While Gene has heard a lot about internal auditing in school and has some friends who recently began working as internal auditors, he is unfamiliar with exactly what internal auditors do and how internal and external auditors can work together to improve the audit process. Gene decides to take a look at last year’s internal audit report prepared by Cal Power’s internal auditors. He notices that the report includes a sentence that reads, “Cal Power’s Internal Audit group maintains a high level of independence from management.” Because Gene is intimately familiar with the extensive independence requirements of his own firm, he cannot figure out how Cal Power’s internal audit group can possibly assert their own independence.
What is meant by independence from management for internal auditors?