The departure of a top auditor isn't just a vacancy to fill; it's a brain drain of institutional knowledge, risk expertise and future leadership. The Great Resignation highlighted the issue, but the underlying causes have been simmering for years.
At Leonid, through our daily conversations with top audit talent, we see four primary reasons your best people are leaving. In this article, we explore those reasons - and advise on what you can do to keep them.
The four root causes of auditor attrition
1. The Burnout Spiral: doing more with less
Modern internal audit is relentless. The audit plan is more complex, encompassing everything from cloud security to supply chain ethics. Regulatory pressures are intensifying, and teams are often expected to manage this expanded scope without a proportional increase in headcount. Top auditors, who are naturally diligent and conscientious, bear the brunt of this. They are stuck in a cycle of perpetual audit cycles, working long hours on manual data wrangling, and suffering from "assurance fatigue." The work becomes a grind, and the passion for problem-solving that drew them to the role is extinguished.
2. The "Poaching" Problem: a testament to their value
This is the ultimate double-edged sword. Your best auditors possess a unique and highly coveted skillset: they understand your business processes, can assess risk objectively and communicate complex issues effectively. The business units know this. It’s no surprise that Finance, Operations and Compliance actively headhunt these individuals. A move to a business role often comes with a clearer impact on the P&L, a perceived step-up in influence, and frequently, a significant salary increase. When the only path for growth appears to be out of audit, you’re fighting a losing battle.
3. The Career Ladder that leads to a cliff
Many IA functions have a flat structure: Staff, Senior, Manager, Chief Audit Executive. The jump from Manager to CAE is a massive one, requiring not just technical skill but immense political capital and leadership experience. For a high-potential senior manager, waiting 5-10 years for the CAE to retire is not a career plan - it's a career prison! Without a visible and achievable progression path within the function, ambition alone will push your best people to seek opportunities elsewhere.
4. The Perception Gap: being seen as a policeman, not a partner
Despite the rhetoric, many organisations still treat internal audit as a "necessary evil"; a group of compliance police who exist to find fault. When auditors feel their strategic insights are ignored or their reports are shelved, morale plummets. This perception gap is deeply demotivating for professionals who want to add value and help the business succeed. If they’re not treated as strategic partners, they will find an organisation that will.
The Retention Playbook: how to keep your top talent
Understanding the "why" is only half the battle. Here is our four-part playbook for retaining your star auditors.
1. Combat burnout with technology and focus.
- Invest in Tools, not just talent: Liberate your team from manual tasks. Invest in and train your team on Data Analytics (DA) tools, Process Mining, and AI. This reduces grunt work, makes audits more impactful and upskills your team simultaneously.
- Ruthlessly prioritise: Work with the Audit Committee to ensure the audit plan is dynamic and risk-based. Be willing to defer or descope low-risk audits to focus resources on the areas that truly matter. Empower your team to do deep, meaningful work, not just more work.
2. Lean into the "Feeder Pool" mentality, strategically.
You can't stop the business from wanting your talent, but you can control the narrative.
- Create Formal Rotation Programs: Instead of losing your best people, loan them. Establish a formal program where high-potential auditors can spend 6-12 months on a secondment in a business unit like Finance, Strategy, or Cybersecurity. They gain invaluable experience and return to IA with a deeper business understanding. This makes IA a destination for those seeking broad exposure.
- Celebrate "Alumni" Success: Track and celebrate the careers of former auditors who have moved into successful roles within the company. This positions IA as the premier leadership development program within your organization, actually helping you attract ambitious talent.
3. Redefine the career ladder.
Growth doesn't always have to be a straight vertical climb.
- Create specialist tracks: Not every senior auditor wants to be a people manager. Create parallel career paths for technical specialists (e.g. "Director of IT Audit," "Head of Data Analytics for IA") with appropriate compensation and prestige. This allows experts to grow in influence without leaving their domain.
- Expand horizontally: Provide opportunities for auditors to lead audits in new and emerging risk areas (e.g., ESG, Third-Party Risk, Digital Transformation). This keeps the work intellectually stimulating and builds a more versatile and resilient team.
4. Close the perception gap with influence and impact.
- Measure and broadcast value: Shift the metric from "number of audits completed" to "risk mitigated" and "value added." Quantify how an audit finding saved the company money, avoided a compliance fine, or improved a process. Share these success stories with senior leadership and the board.
- Empower your CAE as a strategic voice: The number one thing an organisation can do is ensure the CAE has a direct, respected line to the CEO and the Audit Committee. When the function is valued at the top, that reputation filters down, and every auditor feels the increased respect and influence.
The Bottom Line
Your best auditors are leaving because they have options. They are sought-after professionals who crave impact, growth and respect. The organisations that win the war for audit talent won't do so by accident. They will be the ones who intentionally design their IA function to be a dynamic, technology-enabled hub for leadership development and strategic insight.
By implementing these strategies, you can stop being a training ground for other departments and start being a magnet for the top-tier talent that will safeguard and guide your company's future.
If you would like more advice on retaining your internal audit team, please get in touch with Adam Bond for a friendly discussion.
