Unleashing the potential of internal audits: a review and research agenda

It is generally agreed that internal audits need to be revised to better support value creation beyond compliance with a standard. However, research on internal audits of quality management systems is scarce, and no clear study exists that could guide practitioners in improving the auditing practice and help researchers advance existing knowledge. Thus, this paper aims to review empirical research on internal audits of ISO 9001 to synthesise advice for increasing the value of internal audits and to establish a research agenda. A systematic literature review is conducted, which included not only papers published in peer-reviewed academic journals but also conference proceedings and magazines. The results reveal the need for more research contributing to practice and theory, enhanced focus on organisational needs and improvement opportunities, changes in audit planning and auditor skills to enable process-oriented auditing, and research on how to implement changes in internal auditing.