May 14, 2026
May is Internal Audit Awareness Month
The SIU System’s Office of Internal Audit, Compliance and Ethics is recognizing Internal Audit Awareness Month in May and wants to push away some common misconceptions.
If you've heard an "internal audit is coming” and felt a brief spike of anxiety, you're not alone — the purpose of an internal audit is commonly misunderstood.
An internal audit is an independent team — less like a referee counting mistakes, and more like a spotter at a gym to make sure you don’t get hurt. Their role is to help the university operate better, more efficiently, more securely, and with greater confidence that the right safeguards and controls are in place.
The Office of Internal Audit, Compliance and Ethics reports to the SIU System President and Board of Trustees’ audit committee, which means independence is built into the structure. When the audit team reviews a process or a department, they are looking at risk and systems, not judging people.
The audit team’s observations or findings provide leadership with risk information to support more informed decisions and help departments protect themselves from risks they may not even know exist.
Over the next few weeks, SIU’s Internal Audit team will share what internal audit work looks like and how it benefits SIU. Learn more about SIU’s Internal Audit area here.