IAO’s Internal Audit Unit conducts assurance and advisory engagements.

Assurance Engagements

IAO determines which assurance engagements to perform by conducting a biennial risk assessment of the ILO’s activities undertaken at Headquarters and in all regional and field offices as well as the International Training Centre of the ILO, located in Turin, Italy. The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) sets standards for conducting internal audits through its Professional Practice Framework. This framework requires internal auditors to adopt a risk-based methodology which is a key element in conforming to the standards. The framework also requires all internal audit institutions to undergo an external quality review every five years. The purpose of the review is to determine whether internal audit institutions are in general conformance with the standards as set by the IIA. IAO underwent an external quality assurance review in 2018, which concluded that the IAO’s Internal Audit Unit generally conforms with the IIA standards.

IAO’s assurance audits of the ILO’s internal control environment assess:

• The reliability and integrity of financial and operating information and the means used to identify, measure, classify and report such information
• The effectiveness of the management controls and systems used to account for and safeguard the Office’s assets
• Compliance with the Office policies and procedures
• Whether internal controls are adequate to allocate and utilize resources effectively and efficiently

Advisory Engagements

IAO conducts advisory engagements upon request from management and are not determined via the risk assessment process. Advisory engagements generally have a narrower scope of work than assurance engagements and assist management with their decision making.