[willpower86]

I just wanted some opinions on whether obtaining a CIA would be beneficial (or obtainable) from a financial controller. It would be in addition to the CPA/CMA combination.

[senbi575]

I have all three certs, and I think they are all great to have. From a practical standpoint though it would depend on your organization. Do you have a separate internal audit department? If not are you planning to be, the Controller and the defacto CAE (which is kind of a conflict)? You don't necessarily need to be a CIA to plan audits from your role as a controller, especially since there is likely no fomal audit plan/schedule. Studying for the CIA exam will give you more formal internal audit documentation and execution knowledge, which will help you with these audits though and make them more formal.

Exam-wise, if you can pass the CPA and the CMA exam you should be able to pass the CIA exam, if you have 2+ years of public accounting experience in audit the exam should be pretty basic.

[Author]

Replies