Actually, that’s not true at all! I’ve been told that I should use eye-catching headlines on social media in the attempt to stand out…
Last week I created a LinkedIn poll asking my network to share their views on when they expect to resume travelling as part of their internal audit role. Well, the results are in!
As the chart suggests, the majority of respondents (38%) are planning to resume international travel in Q3 or later in 2022, compared with Q4 21 (14%), Q1 22 (21%) and Q2 22 (28%). This is perhaps not surprising given the levels of uncertainty surrounding international travel at present. Internal Audit teams have also adapted their approach to audits since the beginning of the pandemic. Technology has been a major influencer and has enabled internal audit teams to continue to provide assurance in these challenging times. The profession deserves praise for how they have continued to support their organisations over the past 18 months.
Since the poll was created, the USA has relaxed their restrictions for UK and European citizens travelling to the country. I suspect the results may look a little different if it were to be repeated now. I’ve had a number of conversations of late suggesting audit teams will look to travel to the USA sooner rather than later.
There is a surprising amount of appetite for travel in 2021. There are many variables though, with location of travel being the most prevalent. Businesses with a heavy presence in Asia are likely to be travelling later than a European focused audit team. The conversations I’ve had suggest those audit teams travelling in 2021 will be focussing their time on high-risk audits in Europe only. In all of these instances, the audit teams will be travelling to countries deemed as “safe” to travel to, and those travelling also being double-vaccinated.
This is by no means a scientific piece of research but hopefully it sheds some light as to the appetite for international travel in the internal audit community. Uncertainty will remain for the foreseeable, but what is clear from my conversations and the recent poll is internal auditors do want to get back on the road!
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way internal audit teams work, and I wonder if there are any teams who will drastically reduce the level of travel in favour of utilising technology to provide effective assurance? Only time will tell.
A reduction in international travel will certainly make the profession more attractive to those unable to commit to international travel, but could also put off those who joined internal audit to travel!
As ever, if you want to discuss this or anything else further, please get in touch at [email protected] or +44 7903 884799.