ABSTRACT
Internal auditors are expected to go beyond merely listing issues and symptoms noticed during their reviews, and through research identify the source of the issues noted. The misplaced focus on symptoms leads to the focus on the wrong culprit, and the issuance of vague and ineffective recommendations that come short of truly helping internal audit clients. The result is that problems persist or recur. Root-cause analysis (RCA) is a problem-solving technique to identify the source of defects, and by correcting issues at the source, help organizations, programs, and processes achieve their objectives.
