Internal Auditor
Internal auditors examine their own organisation's risks, controls and processes, and report to the board on what needs fixing.
- Median salary
- $109,400
3.6%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 6,000
1.7%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +15.9%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Low
- automation risk
- Average hours
- 41/wk
+1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- In shortage
national
Internal auditors work for the organisation they review, so they build a depth of knowledge that an external auditor, arriving for a few weeks each year, never gets. They usually sit in a small team and report to an audit committee or the board rather than to the managers whose work they examine. Most are employed in financial services, government, or professional services firms that provide internal audit to other organisations.
How much do internal auditors earn?
The median full-time salary for an internal auditor is $109,400 per annum, before tax, up $23,300 since 2018.
Sector and seniority move pay more than anything else: internal audit roles in financial services and the large consulting firms generally pay above those in government or smaller not-for-profits. A qualification such as the Certified Internal Auditor designation, or a CA or CPA, tends to lift the range, and so does stepping up to lead a team or head the function. Contract work is often quoted as a daily rate, which looks generous until you account for unpaid leave and arranging your own super.
What does an internal auditor do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Interviewing managers and frontline staff to find out how a process actually works before testing it
- Testing controls by sampling transactions or running a whole population through data analytics tools
- Forming a view on risks in an unfamiliar part of the business within a short review window
- Writing findings so they land with an audit committee without putting managers on the defensive
- Following up months later to check that a fix actually stuck, rather than just got signed off
What skills do internal auditors need?
Employers look for auditing and assurance, risk and internal controls, regulatory compliance, backed by Excel fluency and strong written communication.
Specialist skills
- Auditing and assurance
- Risk and internal controls
- Regulatory compliance
- Process improvement
Software and tools
- Excel
- GRC platforms
- Data analytics tools
General skills
- Written communication
- Stakeholder management
Is the job growing?
About 6,000 people work as internal auditors in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 15.9% over the decade to 2035. That's healthy, above-average growth, and the role should stay in solid demand.
How do you become an internal auditor?
Here's the path most internal auditors take, step by step.
- 1Get a degree in accounting, finance, commerce or business
This is what most internal audit teams ask for, and 44% of the people doing this work hold a bachelor degree as their highest qualification. An accounting major covers the financial reporting and controls basics that reviews draw on.
- 2Apply for a graduate program or an external audit role
Banks, insurers, government departments and the professional services firms that provide internal audit run graduate intakes, and those are the main way in. A graduate role in external audit at an accounting firm is the other common start, with a move across after two or three years.
- 3Work towards a professional qualification
The Certified Internal Auditor program, run by the Institute of Internal Auditors Australia, is specific to this job. Many auditors also complete the CA or CPA through Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand or CPA Australia, and most employers cover the fees and give study leave.
- 4Broaden the parts of the business you review
Lead and head of audit roles go to people who have run reviews across operations, IT, procurement and compliance, not only the area they started in. Asking for a rotation, or for a review outside your comfort zone, is how that breadth gets built.
Ready to apply as an internal auditor?
Whether you're working toward becoming an internal auditor or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can an internal auditor move to?
Moving into Risk Manager typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $18,000 a year more on average.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Manager Internal auditors bring control testing and risk assessment directly to risk management, needing little extra training. | +$18,000 | 65% | minimal |
| External Auditor Internal auditors bring controls testing and risk assessment to external audit, with a short course covering audit reporting standards.Known move | +$0 | 56% | short course |
| IT Auditor Internal auditors bring audit method and controls testing to it auditing, with a short course in technology controls. | −$200 | 45% | short course |
| Accountant Internal auditors bring process and control knowledge to accounting roles, though they need substantial retraining in financial reporting.Known move | −$5,200 | 32% | reskill |
| Compliance Officer Internal auditors bring risk and control testing to compliance work, with a short course covering regulatory frameworks. | −$22,000 | 58% | short course |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as an internal auditor?
The typical internal auditor is 39 years old; 57% are women, 85% work full-time, and full-timers average 41 hours a week.
- 39
- Median age
- 57%
- Female share
- 85%
- Full-time
- +1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being an internal auditor?
Internal audit runs to a review cycle: a few weeks of fieldwork in one part of the business, then reporting, then the next area, with follow-ups running alongside. The pressure comes from forming a credible view of a process you may never have worked in, and from delivering findings to managers who did not ask for the review. It suits people who like working out how things really operate, are comfortable being the one who raises the awkward question, and would rather understand a business than run part of it.
What people like
- You see how the whole organisation works. A few years in, you have sat in on treasury, payroll, procurement and IT, which is breadth that few other graduate roles offer.
- The hours are steadier than in external audit. There are deadlines around audit committee papers, but not the seasonal crush of an accounting firm's audit season, and travel is usually lighter.
- Your findings change how things are done. When a control gets fixed after a review, the effect is concrete and often traceable back to the work you did.
- Small teams mean early responsibility. Internal audit functions are often only a handful of people, so a new auditor runs their own reviews sooner than they would in a larger firm.
What people find hard
- You ask questions people don't always want to answer. Managers can read a review as a judgement on them, and part of the job is handling that reaction without softening the finding.
- You form opinions without deep experience of the area. A three-week review of a process someone has run for a decade means drawing conclusions in unfamiliar territory, and it is easy to get something wrong in the first draft.
- Reporting deadlines cluster. Fieldwork, drafting and the audit committee paper often fall in the same few weeks, so the workload is uneven.
- Follow-up is the least interesting part. Chasing management actions months after the review, when everyone's priorities have moved on, takes patience.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ internal auditors?
Financial and Insurance Services employs the largest share of internal auditors, followed by Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.
Top employing industries
- 1Financial and Insurance Services
- 2Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 3Public Administration and Safety
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 44.1% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 26.3% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 10.2% | |
| Year 12 or below | 9.5% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 7.5% |
Will AI replace internal auditors?
AI and automation reach into specific parts of internal audit rather than the whole role. Data analytics tools are already standard for testing transactions and governance platforms track findings, which speeds up the mechanical side of a review, but the interviews, the judgement about what a finding means and the negotiation with managers over actions stay with the auditor. Corporate reporting rules also expect a human opinion on internal control, which is what keeps the exposure low.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Writing findings and agreeing actions with managementA drafting tool can produce a first version, but the wording that gets a manager to accept a fix still comes from the auditor who sat through the review.30%low
- Interviewing managers and staff about how a process really worksA conversation about a payment approval process or a stock count is not something software reconstructs, and people explain what they do differently when a machine is not asking.25%low
- Reporting to the audit committee and tracking actionsGovernance platforms roll up overdue actions automatically, and the auditor still decides which ones matter enough to escalate.25%moderate
- Testing controls across transactionsAnalytics tools can now run a whole population of transactions instead of a sample, which changes how the testing is done but not who decides what a failure means.20%high
Common questions about becoming an internal auditor
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do internal auditors earn?
The median for internal auditors is $109,400 a year before tax, though the range is wide. Financial services and the large consulting firms pay more than government or smaller organisations, and a certification combined with a lead role pushes you further up the scale.
How do you become an internal auditor?
Most people start with a degree in accounting, finance, commerce or business and join a graduate program at a bank, insurer, government department or consulting firm. External audit is the other common entry point, with a move across after two or three years, and the Certified Internal Auditor qualification is the one specific to the job.
Are internal auditors in demand in Australia?
Internal auditors are currently in shortage nationally, and employment is projected to grow 15.9% over the decade to 2035. For someone entering now, that means openings across banks, insurers, government agencies and the consulting firms that provide internal audit services to other organisations.
Will AI replace internal auditors?
The exposure is low at this stage. Analytics tools and governance platforms have taken over transaction testing and action tracking, but the interviews, the judgement about what a control failure means and the conversation with management about fixing it still need a person. The professional standards behind internal audit also assume a human opinion.
Can internal auditors move into other roles?
Risk management is one option, where control testing and risk assessment carry over and pay is typically $18,000 more. External audit uses the same methods at about the same pay, with a short course covering reporting standards, and compliance work is another path at $22,000 less.
What's the difference between an internal auditor and an external auditor?
An internal auditor works for the organisation and reports to its board or audit committee, reviewing whatever risks matter to the business across the year. An external auditor is engaged from outside to give an annual opinion on the financial statements. The two often work alongside each other, and moving between them is common.
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