CIA® Program Requirements: What’s Changed in 2018?

Becoming a Certified Internal Auditor® is a great way to demonstrate your auditing expertise and elevate your accounting career. But, occasionally, the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) adjusts the CIA program requirements to better fit the realities of the job market and the latest industry practices.

Raising the Education Threshold

Recently, the IIA made a slight-but-significant change to some of its education requirements for the CIA program.

The general requirement for a post-secondary degree — in other words a three- or four-year bachelor’s degree in any subject — remains the same. If you meet this requirement, you only need two years of verified internal audit experience, or its equivalent, to be eligible for CIA certification.

However, there are other combinations of education and work experience that qualify and that’s what the IIA has updated.

Previously, you only needed two years of post-secondary education to qualify for CIA certification with five years of verified internal audit experience. That requirement has been altered and now requires that you have completed a two-year post-secondary degree — i.e., an associate’s degree — to qualify. This is dependent on IIA approval on a case-by-case basis.

We’ve updated our CIA Program Requirements resource page to reflect this key change and to provide a full listing of what you need to become a Certified Internal Auditor now.