Which of the following represents a breach to the principle of maintaining objectivity?
A.
An internal auditor reported that a conclusion was drawn based on adequate testing, but in reality the auditor omitted many required testing procedures.
B.
An internal auditor attended a yacht trip organized by management of the area to be reviewed during engagement planning.
C.
An internal auditor sent a product price list to a friend who is a competitor of the company that employs the auditor.
D.
An internal audit report was released without appropriate review.
Accepting hospitality such as a yacht trip from management of an area about to be audited creates an actual or perceived threat to the auditor’s objectivity. Internal auditors must avoid benefits, relationships, or circumstances that could influence—or reasonably appear to influence—their professional judgment. Such hospitality may create familiarity, personal-interest, or undue-influence threats before engagement work begins. Option A primarily concerns failure to perform sufficient work and potentially misrepresenting the work performed. Option C represents misuse of confidential organizational information. Option D reflects inadequate supervision or quality control. Although all four situations are problematic, option B most directly affects the auditor’s ability to remain impartial and unbiased toward management of the activity under review. Therefore, accepting the yacht trip breaches the principle of maintaining objectivity.
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