Internal Audit Award of Excellence

The Council of Internal Auditing use three criteria described below to judge the nominees for the award. To be considered, the nominee should demonstrate performance that's above and beyond what would be expected from a competent internal auditor.

Dedication

The nominee goes beyond the normal requirements of an internal auditor’s job duties and responsibilities and demonstrates devotion and/or passion to their profession. Some areas that can be addressed are:

1. obtaining professional certifications;
2. serving as a subject matter expert in a multi-agency or internal workgroup/task force;
3. mentoring or assisting junior internal auditors; assisting peer;
4. devoting more than 40 per week to their career; etc.

Contribution

The nominee promotes, encourages, or furthers the profession of internal auditing. Some areas include: 

1. serving as an officer, committee or board member, or volunteering with the National or Local Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors;
2. promoting the profession of internal auditing by performing speaking engagements for students, agencies staff, or at conference and training events; and 
3. publishing books, articles, research papers or test questions; etc.

Innovation

The nominee reengineered, implemented new methods, or utilized new devices to improve processes or achieve better results within their internal audit functions or across the state. Some areas include: 

1. using computer assisted audit tools to improve audit administration, data extraction and analytics, or continuous auditing; 
2. establishing new methods to reduce audit cycle time or tracking management’s corrective action; 
3. using an intern or guest auditor program to increase resources; etc.

These definitions are not all inclusive. If you know of an internal auditor or group of internal auditors that goes above and beyond normal expectations of their job requirements to improve or promote internal auditing, please nominate them! 

The following individuals are eligible for nomination:

• Individuals must be or have been a State employee.
• Full-time, part-time, or time-limited employees are eligible.
• A recently deceased, retired, or employee on leave-without-pay may be nominated provided they were employed with the State during within the award year.
• Individuals who were nominated but did not receive the North Carolina Internal Audit Award for Excellence, will automatically be nominated in a succeeding year as long as the above eligibility requirements are met.
• Nominations may be made for an individual or a group.
• Anyone can make a nomination. 

Please use the Internal Audit Nomination Award of Excellence nomination form.  

The nomination should provide information on the nominee’s contributions to the Internal Auditing. The following are items that may be discussed in nominating an individual or group:

• Information on the technical and professional competence of the nominee(s).
• A description of the contributions that positively influenced internal auditors, internal audit profession and their office’s internal audit function.
• Information about the employee’s efforts that resulted in improvements to internal audit processes or contribution to promote the internal audit profession.
• A description of the long-term or lasting benefit(s) of the nominee’s accomplishments.
• Other relevant information that will elaborate on the merits of the nominee(s) or assist the Committee in making its decision. 

The Office State Budget and Management’s Internal Audit (OSBM) section staffs the Council of Internal Auditing and administers the Internal Audit Award of Excellence Program.

Selection Committee

The Selection Committee shall be comprised of the following four individuals if more than four nominations are received.

• A staff member from OSBM – Internal Audit.
• The winner from the previous year.
• A volunteer auditor from a participating university.
• A volunteer from a participating state agency.

The Selection Committee will narrow the applicants down to three top candidates. The committee provides all nominations to the Council along with the three top candidates. The Council will make the final selection.

Council Selection

No later than November 1 of each year, the Executive Director, or their designee will email the top three candidates to all the Council members for an email vote. Council members will have two weeks to make their selections for top candidate and the runner up. The executive director will tally the votes and inform the Council Chair of the result. If there is a tie, the Chair will be responsible for making the final decision. 

Collaboration with NC Institute of Internal Audit Auditors (IIA)

The Internal Audit Director is responsible for working with local chapters to secure monetary donations from each IIA NC local Chapter. This is done through working through IIA
District representative. Once the Council selects a winner, the Director will work with the District representative to issue a check. 

The award will be presented annually by the State Auditor. The presentation will take place in December at the Office of the State Controller’s Financial Conference. A plaque
will be presented to the award winner and a permanent record (plaque) will be housed in the Office of Internal Auditing within OSBM. 

The award winner will be notified prior to the award ceremony. Candidates not receiving the award will also be notified. The Council Chair will send both award and the regret letters. Once the award winner is honored at the ceremony, an announcement will be posted on the OSBM website and thank you emails will be sent to local IIA chapters that sponsored the award. 

Recent Award of Excellence winners:

Jack Gagnon Wins 2024 Internal Audit Award of Excellence

2023 Award of Excellence Presented to NC A&T Internal Auditor

Department of Agriculture Audit Officer Earns 2022 Award of Excellence

If you have any questions or need additional information contact internalauditinfo@osbm.nc.gov