Internal auditing is a growing profession. Some of the recent growth can be attributed to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Required
a. What are the relative roles of the internal auditor and external audit firm regarding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? Assume the external auditor is only engaged to perform an external audit.
b. Can a CPA firm provide both internal and external audit services for an organization? In formulating your answer, consider that there might be differences for public and non-public companies.
c. Why might a company consider outsourcing some, or all, of its internal audit work to an external provider? What might be the advantages of having an external provider perform internal audit work?
d. What are the advantages of sourcing internal audit work in-house, i.e., an internal audit department exists within the company?
e. Would a smaller organization be more likely or less likely to outsource some, or all, of its internal audit activities? Explain.