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, specially in organizations where proper audit committee does not exists and the CEO primarily supervise the audit function. what best an auditor can do in such cases, when he sees that company is doing something fishy and management is also not taking any action for it.
Keep good notes! And store copies of them securely. An internal auditor is a check function for senior management to give them feedback on problems. It's up to them to act and do the right thing when confronted with the truth. You are outside the chain-of-command / decision-making loop. You are an input which must be listened to. All you can do is tactfully present the facts, be honest and offer advice if it's requested.
It is also fundamentally appropriate to have the Chief Audit Executive have a direct functional reporting relationship with a sub-committee of the board preferably the audit committtee. This becomes particulary relevant when acts of fraud/ concealment are implicating senior management who in essence must be the primary custodians of safeguarding company assets. However it must be emphasised that this functional reporting relationship must be clearly spelt out in the audit charter approved by the board. The mandate of the audit committee must also be clearly outlined in the approved audit committee charter . To effectively steer ethical change these boards must comprise of persons with the will power and drive to effectively follow-up issues raises implicating senior management.
