Internal auditors may be coming under increased pressure from audit committees and senior management to issue opinions on entity-wide internal controls, as well as the company’s internal control over financial reporting.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2006 State of the Internal Audit Profession Study, which surveyed 392 companies, found that almost 37 percent of internal auditors issue an entity-wide opinion on their companies’ internal controls, and about the same percent provide an annual opinion on financial controls.