Songhee7, An Another71 Forum member, asked the following:

“As a licensed CPA with about 1.5 years of audit experience at a small public accounting firm, I'm thinking about studying for CIA exam.

I'm planning to move to a bigger accounting firm soon and maybe becoming an internal auditor at a private sector might be one of my future career choices if I decide to leave public accounting. Plus I'm interested in learning more about internal controls as an external auditor.

Since I don't know anyone with CIA designation, I wanted to make sure if it will be worth my time and effort to go for CIA (I'm single and working for a small firm so I have plenty of time).

Any thoughts or advice?”

I turned to a good friend of mine who is a CPA, CMA, and CIA and began his career in Internal Audit for an publicly traded company and has worked for several years in SEC Reporting for another large publicly traded company.

His Response:

“Absolutely! If the person wants to climb the ranks in an IA department, it is a must to give them an edge over the competition.

I also recommend the CISA. Folks with a CISA get paid!

Honestly, right now in the current environment with all the focus on cyber security, a CISA>CIA in terms of the pay that they can command.

The combination of the two with a CPA is deadly (CPA/CIA/CISA).