Internal auditor burnout – an urgent area for research?

Lena Grzesiak

doi:10.33119/knop.2020.58.1.5

Abstract

The article explores the problem of professional burnout among internal auditors. The phenomenon of professional burnout has been known for almost five decades, but the knowledge of it is still insufficient. This is a major problem because burnout affects more and more professions and the number of organizations struggling with its impacts is increasing. This paper was inspired by the author’s previous research into internal audit effectiveness. The internal auditors surveyed then reported among others that their profession was more at risk of burnout than many others, and seriously hindered their effectiveness. These findings led the author to conclude that being an internal auditor inherently involved a higher risk of burnout. Hence the aim of this theoretical paper is to assess the urgency of studying professional burnout among internal auditors. In the article question whether or not (and why) more research in this area was necessary, was answered. The article may be an incentive to undertake further research on internal auditor job burnout. In preparing the paper, research methods such as a critical analysis of the literature and content analysis were used. The paper is organised as follows. In Section 1 provides the introduction. Section 2 contains an overview of the risk factors for burnout among internal auditors. In section 3, the directions for future research are proposed based on the presented findings (discussion).

Highlights

This paper was inspired by the author’s previous research into internal audit effectiveness
There is a rule that internal auditors may not have operational links with any of the business areas, but studies show that they are expected to be able to audit “everything” and to have expert understanding of different aspects of their organisation’s business (Chambers, 2014)
Psychological strain and stress that internal auditors experience in their work significantly increase their risk for professional burnout

Summary

Lena Grzesiak

Summary: The article explores the problem of professional burnout among internal auditors. There is a rule that internal auditors may not have operational links with any of the business areas, but studies show that they are expected to be able to audit “everything” and to have expert understanding of different aspects of their organisation’s business (Chambers, 2014) Because of their knowledge and proficiency in identifying and solving inefficiencies and irregularities they are sometimes metaphorically called “sages” (Kabalski, Grzesiak, 2017); much more often, they are labelled jacks of all trades and masters of none Psychological strain and stress that internal auditors experience in their work significantly increase their risk for professional burnout Those affected by it start to feel uncomfortable in their organisational roles and become less engaged in their work and, less productive. The executives do not have access to vital knowledge about the organisation, which puts at risk its performance and long-term sustainability

Findings

Discussion

Conclusions