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According to Payscale, the average salary for a Certified Internal Auditor is $97,000. By comparison, non-certified internal auditors make about $71,000 per year on average. As with most careers, there are many factors that can determine your earning potential as a CIA. This page is a resource dedicated to helping you understand what those factors are, and what you can do to set yourself up to maximize your internal auditor salary.
Use the jump links to access different sections throughout this guide.
A CIA is a trained professional employed by companies and organizations to provide independent and objective evaluations of operations involving risk management, control processes, and governance processes.
With that level of responsibility, it’s reasonable to expect an internal auditor’s salary to reflect that job description. The average salary for a Certified Internal Auditor is $97,000 according to Payscale, $26,000 more than the average for internal auditors without a certification.
The IIA’s 2017 Internal Audit Compensation Study revealed that CIAs can earn as much as 51% more than non-certified internal auditors. This should compel aspiring internal auditors to pursue certification.
Earning your certification can provide a greater boost to your internal auditor salary than other commonly recommended ways to increase your income, such as moving to a bigger city, changing to a larger organization, or even gaining years of experience.
As with most careers, if you are applying to your first internal auditing job, your experience is reflected in the quality of your school, your grades, the prestige of your internships, and any applicable extracurricular activities.
According to Robert Half, the expected salary range for an entry-level Internal Auditor is $50,250 – $62,500, with a national average of $55,500. Once you get that first job, experience starts to include accrued time working in the industry, your accomplishments, and your professional references.
Robert Half also outlines key skills managers are willing to pay a higher salary for:
The chart below reflects the standard career path for aspiring auditors to consider:
We get a more complete picture of who earns what level of salary when we look at different Internal Audit job positions and earning percentiles in Robert Half’s 2024 Salary Guide.
Robert Half is a leading staffing and employment services company, which provides starting compensation ranges for specific accounting and finance positions by percentiles, including a certified internal auditor salary.
| Position | 25th Percentile | 50th Percentile | 75th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Audit Executive/Vice President, Internal Audit/Internal Audit Director | $138,250 | $194,250 | $223,250 |
| Manager of Internal Audit – Corporate Accounting | $108,250 | $129,000 | $154,500 |
| Senior Internal Auditor – Corporate Accounting | $84,000 | $100,750 | $118,750 |
| Internal Auditor, 1-3 Years’ Experience – Corporate Accounting | $66,250 | $82,750 | $96,500 |
| Entry-Level Internal Auditor – Corporate Accounting | $50,250 | $55,500 | $62,500 |
Average salary as reported by the 2024 Robert Half Salary Guide.
The Robert Half Salary Guide Report from 2024 also outlined the personas of those who fit these different groups by percentile.
This can be helpful for anyone looking at their own qualifications, and assessing how that may translate to their internal auditor salary – regardless of where they are in their career.
Candidates who do not have a lot of experience, require skill development, and need instruction to perform their job tasks.
Candidates with an average amount of experience, the necessary skills to meet the job requirements, and who are comfortable with their tasks and do not require supervision.
Candidates with a higher-than-average amount of experience, have a strong skill set compared to most of their peers, and who make valuable contributions to the organization.
As expected, the complexity of an auditor’s role, as well as their experience level, is going to have a great influence on their internal auditor salary. After you earn your certification status, the amount of experience you have is the next most important factor when determining your salary as an auditor.
Consider, however, the most highly specialized auditor probably isn’t going to be earning in the 75th percentile if they are working in a smaller, less robust organization. At the same time, there exist some larger, more complex organizations that pay their entry-level auditors more than smaller organizations pay experienced internal auditors.
The CIA is one of the top certifications that can give you a nudge toward the upper 75th percentile. In fact, for many senior positions, the CIA is among the minimum requirements.
Large organizations are often able to pay a premium to attract top talent. The more employees and assets an organization has, the more complex various audit functions become, and their internal auditor salaries reflect that. Generally speaking, the larger the company, the higher the pay for a given role, and the better defined your career path will be within that company.
| Large Organizations | Small Organizations |
|---|---|
|
The company provides convenient services like gyms, cafeterias, and daycare at the work site. More competition and hierarchy which can make it difficult to affect change. |
A louder voice in company decision-making (i.e. insurance plans, hiring). Less bureaucracy. More difficult to balance work and life with your company only able to support you so far. |
According to the Robert Half Salary Guide, companies are experiencing an accountant shortage and are struggling to hire. Fewer college students are getting accounting degrees, so companies are having a hard time hiring entry-level employees. Companies are also struggling to hire experienced staff because their skills are sought out by many employers. Companies are offering more flexibility, such as remote work flexibility, to attract and retain workers.
Auditors are in high demand, so now is a great time to go into accounting, and the CIA will help you land an even bigger starting internal auditor salary at more competitive organizations.
Successful strategies for landing skilled accountants include offering competitive salaries and allowing staff to work from home at least a couple of days per week.
In general, the bigger the city, the higher the median internal auditor salary. There’s more competition, more opportunity, more capital in cities, and a rising tide lifts all ships. That said, the cost of living is higher in metropolitan areas, some more so than others, so location isn’t everything. If you dislike the cold and aren’t comfortable in a big city, you don’t have to live in New York or Chicago.
Auditors are generally well-compensated, so it is advisable to first find a place you want to live or an organization you want to work for and then allow the adjustments in the table below to inform your salary expectations.
Regardless of the location, Certified Internal Auditors earn more than their non-certified peers.
| City, State | Average Salary* |
|---|---|
| New York, NY | $114,195 |
| Chicago, IL |
$102,610 |
| Boston, MA | $110,058 |
| Houston, TX | $91,025 |
| Denver, CO | $96,818 |
*Average Internal Auditor Salary according to Robert Half’s 2024 Salary Guide
Any way you look at it, getting your credential is one of the best career decisions you can make as an internal auditor, and the benefits it brings far outweigh the initial cost of the CIA exam.
You can enjoy a satisfying and prosperous career as a CIA. If you’re ready to get started, we’re here to help.