IIA IAP case studies
IIA IAP · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Internal Audit Practitioner (IAP) is one of the professional certifications offered by The Institute of Internal Auditors (The IIA), the global authority on internal audit, which lists the IAP alongside the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), the Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA), and the CIA Challenge Exam. The IIA describes earning a professional credential as essential to strengthening your knowledge base and distinguishing yourself from peers, and it presents its certifications as a progression that runs from applying, to testing, to passing and becoming certified. The IIA IAP case studies are 5 cases and about 3,506 words.
1The Interim Controller Request
Northfield Mutual, a mid-sized insurer with $900 million in premium revenue, has an internal audit function of three people: the CAE, one senior auditor, and one staff auditor; two positions are vacant. The CAE reports functionally to the audit committee (which meets quarterly) and administratively to the CFO.
755 words, about 4 min2The Outsourced IT Risk Rating
Cedarline Group, a $600 million distribution company, has an audit plan built from last year's risk register, which rates IT risk as 'low' because IT operations were outsourced to a single vendor in 2022. Since then: two ransomware attempts were blocked, the vendor has not provided a SOC 1 report for two years, the disaster-recovery plan has not been tested since 2022, and a new warehouse system went live in March with no post-implementation review.
608 words, about 3 min3The Trustworthy AP Clerk
Harlow Foods has a 12-person finance team. The accounts payable clerk, who has been with the company 11 years, maintains the vendor master file, enters invoices, and prints and mails checks; the controller reviews and signs checks after they are printed.
722 words, about 4 min4The COO Wants a Different Objective
You are the senior auditor on a procurement audit at a hospital group. The audit committee approved an objective: 'evaluate whether procurement of medical supplies is economical and complies with policy.' Two weeks into fieldwork, the COO tells you that competitive-bid documentation for 40 high-value contracts has been sent to external legal counsel because of a supplier dispute; he asks you to remove the bidding-process objective and 'focus on the purchase-order approval workflow instead,' which he says is 'where the real risk is.' You have already found that 3 of the 12 contracts you reviewed lack evidence of competitive bidding.
745 words, about 4 min5The Clean Follow-Up Report
A payroll audit at a 2,500-employee logistics company found that 8% of sampled timesheets for night-shift drivers were approved after payroll ran, and that supervisors can edit time entries after approval with no audit trail. You reported this as a 'high' finding with three recommendations.
676 words, about 3 min