The Certified Internal Auditor CIA

CIA is the only globally accepted certification for internal auditors and is the gold standard of professionalism in the Internal Audit field.

There are about 50000 CIAs all over the world but due to the acute shortage of CIAs, the Chartered Accountants (CAs/CPAs) and Management Accountants (CMAs/ICWAs/CIMAs) fill the IA function worldwide. Please note that internal auditing is not a regulated profession like CA/CPA.  No country can make it mandatory that internal auditors are required to be chartered accountants. Hence, internal auditing is open to the professionals who have specialized skills. The world knows that ‘internal audit qualification means CIA’ and CIAs have the comprehensive skill-sets required to perform the Internal Audit roles with mastery.  Please visit www.theiia.org to know that CIA is the one and only internal audit qualification of the world.

Internal Auditing-IPFC definition: A multidisciplinary function that derives the power from the ‘Audit Committee’ of the Board of Directors of a company and helps the organization evaluate and better the effectiveness of risk management, internal control and governance process. 

Typically, internal audit team should consist of accountants, engineers, marketing/sales, purchase and professionals from other functions. In our opinion, internal audit is a ‘quasi-accounting’ AND multidisciplinary profession. All members of the IA team are required to appreciate and understand the ‘quasi-accounting’ nature of the profession. Hence, we strongly encourage the engineering, marketing/sales, purchase persons also to acquire the CIA qualification. It is not so complex a qualification as a complete ‘qualified accountant status’ but it is in short supply and hence highly remunerative. A CIA qualification alone makes you a future Chief Internal Auditor. This qualification gives you a knowledge-blend of general business, law, economics, accounting, finance, organizational behavior and strategic management in addition to internal auditing, audit engagement, risk management, control and governance.

Job prospects:   

 IPFC teaches only such courses where it is confident about placement scenario. Industry wants CIAs – we cannot produce them in required numbers. Supply is the problem – job availability is not the problem area. Expected entry level salary of CIA in Indiawould be Rs 30,000-50,000 per month. There are tremendous global opportunities. We are of the view that a CIA will be preferred over CAs/CPAs in the employment in internal audit, internal control, enterprise risk management and corporate governance functions. This is because CIA is the only recognized internal audit qualification in the world.

Experienced professionals: 

A qualified accountant like CMA/CPA/CA/CIMA/ICWA+ CIA = A most-likely Financial Controller or CFO of the future than not. If you are an engineer, marketing or purchase professional posted in the internal audit function, please stop thinking that you are dumped into IA function as a short-term punishment. Your business/technical experience and CIA qualification will make you a Chief Internal Auditor soon and you will be at the helm of governance.

Private Practice prospects: 

Internal audit profession as private practice is not a ‘regulated profession” like the ‘statutory audit’ by the CAs/CPAs. With IPFC chipping in its efforts for CIA creation in India , CIAs will be preferred over others by the industry as production of CIAs pick up in India . You know, CIA is the only globally accepted certification of internal audit. Every country has accounting bodies but the world has only one internal audit body and this is IIA, and CIA is their qualification! No competition, right?

CIA Exam and CIA Certification Eligibility:

Eligibility for taking the CIA exam and receiving the Certification are different:

CIA exam eligibility:

 CIA candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree (or higher degree) or its educational equivalent from an accredited college-level institution.

CIA Certification requirements: 

A CIA passed candidate will receive CIA designation after completion of 2-years of experience in internal auditing or its equivalent areas. A Masters degree or work experience in related business areas (e.g., accounting, law or finance) can compensate for 1 year of relevant experience.

There is nothing to worry about the experience because all of us start without experience in the beginning. Passing the CIA exam is enough evidence of your knowledge and skill s. When you attain the relevant experience, submit it to IIA and get the Certificate. When you pass the CIA exam, you get a CIA pass certificate anyways.

CIA Examination and Content:  

The CIA® is a 4-part examination. Each part is a 2 hour 25 minute exam consisting of 90 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). The exams are conducted by Pearson VUE in 500 test centers worldwide ( India too).

PART I: The Internal Audit Activity's Role in Governance, Risk & Control

Topic Areas	Exam Weight	Level
Comply with the IIA’s Attribute Standards	15%-25%	P
Establish a Risk-based plan to determine the Priorities of the Internal Audit Activity	15%-25%	P
Understand the Internal Audit Activity’s Role in Organizational Governance	10%-20%	P
Perform Other Internal Audit Roles and Responsibilities	0%-10%	P
Governance, Risk and Control Knowledge Elements	15%-25%	P
Plan Engagements	15%-25%	P
PART II: Conducting the Internal Audit Engagement
Conduct Engagements	25%-35%	P
Conduct Specific Engagements	25%-35%	P
Monitor Engagement Outcomes	5%-15%	P
Fraud Knowledge Elements	5%-15%	A/P
Engagements Tools	15%-25%	A/P
PART III: Business Analysis & Information Technology
Business Processes	15%-25%	A/P
Financial Accounting and Finance	15%-25%	A/P
Managerial Accounting	10%-20%	A/P
Regulatory, Legal and Economics	5%-15%	A
Information Technology (IT)	30%-40%	A
PART IV: Business Management Skills (See Waiver Note below)
Strategic Management	20%-30%	A
Global Business Environments	15%-25%	A
Organizational Behavior	20%-30%	A
Management Skills	20%-30%	A
Negotiating	5%-15%	A

P=Candidates must exhibit proficiency (thorough understanding and ability to apply concepts) in these topic areas
A=Candidates must exhibit awareness (knowledge of terminology and fundamentals) in these topic areas

Waiver note: The IIA offers candidates the option of obtaining Professional Recognition Credit (PRC4) in lieu of sitting for Part 4 of the CIA exam. See the PRC4 section on page 20 for additional information.

Passing Score:

 Each of the four exams are graded on a 250 (min) to 750(max) scale. You are required to achieve a score of 600 or higher to pass an IIA CIA Exam part. If you achieve a passing score, your score report will only indicate that you passed. No numeric score will be reported. If you do not pass the test, the score report will indicate the numeric score that you received. This will let you know how close you were to achieving the required 600 points.

IPFC-HOCK CIA Training: 

IPFC brings the CIA course in partnership with HOCK INTERNATIONAL, USA and RUSSIA . HOCK books + software, IPFC study notes and Live Video lectures by SUSH- one of the highest professionally qualified persons in the finance, accounting, business and engineering world, constitute your study methods. In addition to owning accounting qualifications from various countries, SUSH has a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. SUSH is the unanimously chosen leader of the American accountants in India (2006).  Brian is the Author of books on CMA and CPA.

SUSH is the Chief mentor of IPFC and was one of the favorite students of Mr Brian Hock and Mrs Lynn Roden of Hock Internationals. Brian and SUSH are natural friends over long period and they are jointly committed to the causes of the students of the world who aspire to have a ‘qualified accountant’ status.

Under the arrangement with HOCK , the students of CIA will receive the following: 

1.      HOCK Text Books and Exam Preparation software in softcopies

2.      Virtual Online classes from IPFC on real-time basis as below:

CIA Part1: 24hours
CIA Part2: 24hours
CIA Part3: 32hours
CIA Part4: 24 hours

3.      HOCK CIA Forum

4.      HOCK Mock Tests

5.      IPFC Mock Tests

6.      Students’ Performance Monitoring & Feedback system using IPFC’s Artificial Intelligence enabled software written by Sush. This software keeps a track on the learning by the student, his/her weakness and strength and advises if students are ready for the exams or not

7.      Q&A related to examination will be answered by SUSH and/or HOCK teachers

Features of Virtual Online classes of IPFC:

The ONLINE course is exactly similar to classroom course. What you see in the classroom, you exactly see here too, like:

- Teacher giving lecture LIVE
- Teacher making presentation, and your screen turns a presentation screen
- Teacher writing on whiteboard and your screen turns a whiteboard.
- You can talk with teacher and other fellow students and chat also in private and public

. You can save all the whiteboard writings, Powerpoint slides, excel and word files as .pdf files

-You can record the entire class for future viewing

-You can request video of any class that you could not attend

-Time is money. You save time to ply from your home/office to the physical class

-Our online classes are conducted in nights and holidays to help the working executives

Course Fees (payable to IPFC, NOW): 

 The Introductory IPFC pricing for entire course is Rs 50,000 for Indians or USD 1200 for students across the world for the

Part 1-4                    INR 60,000 (USD 1200 for International candidates)

Part 1-3                    INR 48,000 (USD   960 for International candidates)

Fees Payable to Institute of Internal Auditors, USA and its Local Chapters:

Membership Fees (Payable to IIA Local chapters)

Membership of IIA is not necessary (but encouraged) to take the CIA exam or have the CIA status.

If you are in India , you can be member of one of the chapters of IIA in India by paying the following fees:

Admission Fees                 :INR 1000

Annual Membership Fees    : INR 1500

Kolkata, New Delhi ,  Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad .

If you are an international candidate, you can seek membership with the IIA, USA or Local chapters in your country. Visit www.theiia.org for details.

Examination Fees (Payable to IIA , USA )

	Member	Non-Member
One-Time Registration Fees	$75	$100
Exam Fees – Per Part	$150	$200
Total for all 4 Parts	$600	$800

N.B. Examination fees are subject to changes without any prior notice.
Examination fees vary with the Local Chapters of each country. Foreign candidates are requested to contact their Local Chapters before paying examination fees.

Note: This is for packaged course. If any student takes individual course, the fee is INR 19,000/course(Complete study materials and tuitions)

Also, there is an increase in class hours. Most of the students are average or below average and to make them pass, we are giving double to the announced time, at least.  

Students claiming Exemption in Part 4 based on their CA, ICWA, CMA or CPA qualification will have to pay the exemption fee which is equal one part exam fees.