SAQA

All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.

SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY

REGISTERED QUALIFICATION:

Certificate: Certified Internal Auditing

SAQA QUAL ID	QUALIFICATION TITLE
20360	Certificate: Certified Internal Auditing
ORIGINATOR		ORIGINATING PROVIDER
		Institute of Internal Auditors
QUALITY ASSURING BODY			NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
FASSET - Financial and Accounting Services SETA			OQSF - Occupational Qualifications Sub-framework
QUALIFICATION TYPE	FIELD		SUBFIELD
National Certificate	Field 03 - Business, Commerce and Management Studies		Finance, Economics and Accounting
ABET BAND	MINIMUM CREDITS	PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL	NQF LEVEL	QUAL CLASS
Undefined	240	Level 7	NQF Level 08	Regular-Provider-ELOAC
REGISTRATION STATUS		SAQA DECISION NUMBER	REGISTRATION START DATE	REGISTRATION END DATE
Reregistered		SAQA 0695/12	2012-07-01	2015-06-30
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT		LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2016-06-30		2019-06-30

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.

This qualification does not replace any other qualification and is not replaced by any other qualification.

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION

The Internal Audit function is acknowledged worldwide as an intrinsic part of good corporate governance in organizations, entities and government departments. In South Africa, legislation requires the establishment of an internal audit function in every public sector entity. This qualification will help to provide the required number of people able to fulfill the internal audit role thereby helping government departments meet their legislative requirement in this regard. The CIA will enable people working in internal audit to develop the required competencies to plan, implement, manage and advise on internal audits. The holder of this qualification will be able to conduct an audit and coordinate the services of a team of Internal Audit Technicians and General Internal Auditors to complete the required audit tasks.

The qualification will acknowledge that a successful learner has attained the skills, knowledge and competencies equal to those of the highest and most prestigious, globally recognized internal audit certification. This qualification is confirmation to the market (the body of employers in all sectors), that the holder has attained globally recognised competencies which are based on the mastery of academic knowledge and its application in practical work situations.

The CIA has as its overall purpose the development of people who are able to:

Apply the role of the internal audit activity in governance, risk and control.

Comply with the international standards of internal auditing.

Conduct an internal audit engagement.

Analyse a business and its processes and systems and have an awareness of information technology applications.

Understand business management skills.

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING

It is assumed that learners have mastered the competencies contained in a relevant bachelors degree or equivalent.

Recognition of Prior Learning:

Recognition of Prior Learning applies to the recognition of skills and knowledge gained by both formal and informal learning and experience. RPL seeks to establish whether the learner possess the competencies specified in the outcomes of the qualification and to issue the learner with recognition in the form of a record of credits toward the achievement of the IAT qualification. RPL will also be used to grant learners admission to the qualification.

Access to the qualification:

For a learner to access the qualification he/she needs:

A relevant bachelors degree,or equivalent.

Three years relevant work exposure in an internal audit or other recognized environments such as external auditing, quality assurance, compliance and internal control, or other adjudged to be appropriate in an internal audit function. The work experience requirement is reduced to two years if the learner is in possession of a 480 credit (four year) academic qualification.

A character reference from a qualified CIA, supervisor or manager at work, or an educator, attesting to high moral and professional attributes.

Paid-up membership of IIA SA.

RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING?

QUALIFICATION RULES

N/A

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES

Apply the role of the internal audit activity in governance, risk and control and comply with the international standards of internal auditing.

Establish a risk-based plan to determine the priorities of the Internal Audit activity.

Understand the role of Internal Audit in the governance structures of the organization.

Perform internal audit and associated roles.

Understand the elements of risk and control.

Understand the elements of governance and management.

Plan, conduct, monitor and control internal audit engagements.

ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Define the purpose, authority and responsibility of the internal audit activity.

Maintain independence and objectivity.

Determine if the required knowledge, skills and competencies are available for an assignment.

Develop or acquire the necessary knowledge and skills.

Exercise due professional care.

Promote continuing professional development.

Promote of quality assurance methods, activities and standards and an improvement in the internal audit activity.

Abide by and promote, The IIA Code of Ethics.

2.

Establish and apply a framework for assessing risk in an organisation.

Identify internal audit resource requirements.

Coordinate Internal Audit activities with the external auditors, regulatory oversight bodies and internal assurance functions.

Select engagements.

3.

Obtain approval of the audit charter by the board.

Communicating the plan of engagements.

Report and discuss significant audit issues.

Communicate regularly with and report to the board on key performance indicators.

Support the board in enterprise-wide-risk assessment.

Review the positioning of the Internal Audit function within the risk management framework of the organization.

Monitor compliance with the corporate code of conduct/business practices.

Report on the effectiveness of the control framework.

Assist the board in assessing the independence of the external auditor.

Assess the ethical climate of the board and organization.

Assess compliance in specific areas, and the organization's reporting mechanisms to the board.

Conduct follow-up and report on management response to regulatory body reviews.

Conduct follow-up and report on management response to external audit.

Assess the adequacy of the performance management system and achievement of corporate objectives.

Support a culture of fraud awareness and the reporting of improprieties.

4.

Promote, administer, implement and ensure compliance processes for ethics in the organization.

Develop and implement enterprise-wide risk and control frameworks, coordinate assessment, report to the board, and review the business continuity planning process.

Determine privacy and security vulnerabilities and report on compliance.

5.

Understand, use and apply risk vocabulary, concepts, risk/control implications of different organizational structures, and risk management techniques.

Understand and use management control techniques and the various types of control - preventive, detective, input, output.

6.

Understand corporate governance principles and alternative control frameworks.

Understand the risk/control implications of different leadership styles.

Understand change and conflict management.

7.

Conduct of preliminary communication with the client.

Conduct a comprehensive survey of the area of engagement.

Plan implementation processes for the engagement.

Complete a detailed risk assessment.

Coordinate the engagement process with external audit and regulatory oversight bodies.

Establish/refine engagement objectives and scope.

Identify and/or develop criteria for assurance engagements.

Identify potential areas of fraud, red flag issues, types of fraud common to the area of engagement, and whether fraud risk requires special attention in the engagement.

Determine engagement procedures.

Determine the level of staff and other resources needed for the engagement.

Plan and supervise the engagement.

Compile the engagement work program.

Integrated Assessment:

Integrated assessment is performed on a continuous basis using a combination of formative and summative assessment techniques and tools both in the workplace and in the formal learning situation. A range of formative and summative assessment methods will be used to assess the ability of learners to apply theory and to combine theory and practice. The focus of assessment is on applied competence.

Assessment or recognition of the relevant workplace experience is by way of certificates of service or letters from employers confirming length and extent of relevant experience. Summative Assessment is done through a four-part examination conducted by the IIA Inc. (USA).

"Professional recognition credit" - exemption from Part 4 of the CIA examination - is accorded to holders of certain recognized professional qualifications such as ACCA and Chartered Accountants.

INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY

The Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) is the global qualification for internal auditing. The content of the examinations and expected outcomes is set by the global structures of IIA Incorporated (USA), and administered by affiliate organizations in more than 120 countries including South Africa.

ARTICULATION OPTIONS

Articulation is possible both horizontally and vertically.

Horizontal articulation will usually occur in areas of specialization such as forensics, governance, IT, financial services, government services and control self-assessment.

Vertical articulation is possible with the CIA, B Admin (Hons), BCom (Hons), Masters degree study and an MBA.

MODERATION OPTIONS

Moderation of learners' assessment will be done by the relevant ETQA.

The awarding of the relevant IIA designation on attainment of the qualification will be done by a sub-committee of the IIA SA Education Committee (Edcom).

CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS

Assessors must:

Be approved by the Education & Training Department/Edcom of the IIA SA.

Be actively engaged in internal audits.

Be registered as an assessor.

Be in a supervisory position in an organization.

NOTES

As per the SAQA decision, after consultation with the Quality Councils, to re-register all qualifications and part qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework that meet the criteria for re-registration, this qualification has been re-registered from 1 July 2012.
As per the SAQA decision to re-register all provider-based qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework that meet the criteria for re-registration, this qualification has again been re-registered from 1 July 2009. N/A

UNIT STANDARDS:

This qualification is not based on Unit Standards.

LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION:

NONE

PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION:

This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Quality Assuring Bodies have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Quality Assuring Body should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.

1.	Self-study - FASSET