75 Years of Internal Audit History The year 1941 marked a major turning point. Victor Z. Brink, authored the first major book on internalauditing. John B. Thurston, internal auditor for the North American Company in New York, and Robert B. Milne, who had served with Thurston on an internal auditing subcommittee, agreed that further progress in bringing internal auditing to its proper level of recognition would be best made possible by forming an independent organization for internal auditors. When Brink’s book came to the attention of Thurston, the three men got together and found they had a mutual interest in furthering the role of internal auditing. As an organizing committee, Brink, Milne, Thurston, contacted a small group of internal audit practitioners throughout the United States who expressed interest in forming a national – even international – organization for internal auditors. The IIA’s certificate of incorporation was filed on November 17, 1941, and just prior to the first annual meeting on December 9, 1941 at the Williams Club located at 24 East 39th Street in New York City, 24 charter members were accepted for membership. Membership grew quickly. It went from the original 24 members to 104 by the end of the first year, to 1,018 at the end of five years. By 1957, membership had expanded to 3,700 with 20 percent of membership located outside of the United States. Seventy-five years later, The IIA is a dynamic global organization with more than 180,000 members worldwide. |