The 2025 North American pulse of internal audit report, produced by the Internal Audit Foundation and sponsored by AuditBoard, uncovered key insights on internal audit budgets, staffing, training, and technology. In particular, this year’s report highlights the importance of aligning with organizational strategy and CAEs’ top priorities for implementing additional technology to support their functions. Some key findings include:

Greater strategic alignment is associated with more sufficient funding. While about half of respondents said their funding is “somewhat sufficient” or “insufficient”, there is a 21-percentage-point advantage in funding for functions that are almost fully aligned with strategic objectives compared to those that are somewhat aligned. Overall, 54% of respondents said they were almost fully aligned or fully aligned with organizational strategy.

Budget and staffing levels have stabilized. The percentage of functions with a budget increase in the prior year has been gradually decreasing since its most recent peak of 38% in 2022. The percentage with budget decreases appears to have stabilized at just over 10%. In 2020, only 18% of internal audit functions said they increased staff. For the past 3 years, the proportion of functions reporting staff increases has hovered around 25%, which is slightly lower than pre-COVID levels.

Technology is leading the way forward. More than 90% percent of CAEs say that data analytics is the most important technology skill for the future. Additionally, about 4 in 10 CAEs say their functions are using GenAI for internal audit activities, with Millennial CAEs reporting higher use than other generations.

The Pulse report provides audit plan overviews, budget/staffing trends, and risk levels to give leaders essential benchmarks they can use throughout the year.

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