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Audit committee reviews proposed Internal Audit charter updates, considers formal audit‑plan approval and reporting lines
Summary
Chief Auditor proposed changes to align with IIA standards (January 2025), including formal approval of the annual audit plan (tiered approach), simplified issue ratings, combined executive summary/audit report, technology assessments, and discussion of functional vs administrative reporting lines for the chief auditor.
The Audit and Compliance Committee reviewed proposed amendments to the Office of Internal Audit (OIA) charter and related process changes at its May 2025 meeting. Chief Auditor (identified in the transcript as Gossack/Galswyck) presented the package of updates and explained how they respond to a November 2024 quality assurance review and new Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) standards that took effect in January 2025.
Galswyck said the proposed charter updates would add explicit language on internal audit responsibilities—particularly ethics and professionalism—add new committee reporting and approval requirements, and introduce additional review of budget and resource sufficiency. "The Institute of Internal Audit changed its standards in January 2025," the chief auditor said, framing the timing for the proposed updates.
A key procedural change discussed was a requirement for formal approval of the annual audit plan. The chief auditor outlined a tiered approach intended to preserve flexibility: Tier 1 audits would be those the office commits to performing in the year, while Tier 2 audits would remain adjustable to address emergent risks or resource constraints. "These will be the audits that we will prioritize and do this year," Galswyck said of Tier 1 items; Tier 2 audits would be adjusted with committee leadership as needed.
Other recommended changes include simplifying issue‑rating labels to high/medium/low, combining the audit report and executive summary into a single document to reduce redundancy, and reducing low‑value schedules from the docket. The office also plans an FY26 RFP to evaluate modern audit workpaper and analytics systems and intends to draft an OIA strategic plan to align with the university's systemwide strategy.
Committee members supported many updates but raised governance questions. One member suggested requiring at least one external QAR reviewer from outside higher education. Members also discussed whether authorizing the committee to approve the audit plan would require updating board policy; the chief auditor said he had consulted university counsel and expected the board could delegate approval to the committee but that a policy update might be needed.
Provost Croson told the committee he had experienced both reporting models and believed the institution faced lower risk when the chief auditor reported to the president and participated in cabinet meetings. The chief auditor said he currently meets with the president monthly and will continue to work with committee and board leadership on the reporting‑line question.
The committee did not adopt the charter changes at the meeting; the proposed amendments are scheduled to return for action at the June meeting, and several operational items (technology RFP, strategic plan, metric adjustments) were identified for FY26 work.
