Strategic Auditing: Elevating Internal Audit's Role in Strategy and Performance
On 12 March 2026, over 250 participants from Singapore and the region attended the webinar “Strategic Auditing: Elevating Internal Audit's Role in Strategy and Performance,” led by Navin Pasricha, Director of Decalais Consultants. The session explored how internal audit can extend traditional risk-based approaches by aligning assurance and advisory activities with organisational strategy, providing insights that support governance, decision-making, and organisational resilience.
Navin outlined the fundamentals of strategic auditing, showing how it helps internal audit examine whether declared strategy aligns with actual behaviour, whether strategic assumptions remain appropriate for future conditions, whether execution reflects board intent, and whether resources, structures, and motivational levers are aligned to support organisational objectives. He highlighted that strategic auditing does not replace risk-based auditing but complements it, enabling internal audit to assess both the design and implementation of strategic priorities in a structured manner.
A key part of the webinar was the discussion of the six-step strategic auditing framework. Participants were introduced to approaches for scanning external trends, assessing organisational capabilities, evaluating strategic assumptions, linking strategy to plans and performance, auditing major initiatives, and reviewing progress over time. Navin illustrated how these steps can provide internal audit with a systematic approach to delivering insights that extend beyond traditional compliance and risk assurance.
As organisations navigate rapid technological, cultural, and environmental shifts, the webinar reinforced that internal audit’s role can go beyond traditional assurance to include meaningful insight that supports sound governance and organisational performance.
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