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CIA exam requirements:
How to become a Certified Internal Auditor

Discover the requirements to take the CIA exam today, and how to maintain your certificate once you pass!

CIA exam requirements:
How to become a Certified Internal Auditor

Discover the requirements to take the CIA exam today, and how to maintain your certificate once you pass!

To earn the Certified Internal Auditor certification, you have to meet the requirements set by The Insitute of Internal Auditors (The IIA). These requirements are known as the Four E’s: Education, Ethics, Examination, and Experience. All four requirements must be completed within a three-year eligibility period in the proper order. The IIA requires candidates to satisfy the education and ethics requirements before completing the examination requirement. You may complete the experience requirement at any time, but many candidates choose to pass the CIA exam first.

Education

The first qualification for becoming a CIA is fulfilling the education requirement. The IIA’s requirements include a range of potential educational backgrounds for CIA candidates. To satisfy the education requirements and be approved into the CIA program, a candidate must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • Have a Bachelor’s degree or higher
  • Have an active Internal Audit Practitioner designation
  • Have five years of internal audit experience
  • Be a student in their final year of college
  • Be a student in an approved Internal Audit Education Partnership (IAEP) school.

CIA Education Requirement

Master’s Degree (or equivalent)
Bachelor’s Degree (or equivalent)
Active Internal Audit Practitioner designation holder
Experience*

*High School Diploma, Associate’s Degree, GCE, A-Level, or equivalent.

If your education is a High School Diploma, Associate’s Degree, GCE, A-Level , or their equivalent, you also have must have five years of experience in internal audit or equivalent topics to be approved into the CIA program. Students in their final year of school can take their CIA exams, but they will not officially hold the CIA certification until they finish their degree and meet all other program requirements. 

Ethics

The IIA holds CIA candidates to high moral and professional standards outlined in its Code of Ethics. To become a CIA, you must agree to abide by this Code of Ethics.

Examination

Passing the CIA examination is one of the certification’s most demanding requirements. The CIA exam contains three parts, hundreds of questions, and hours of testing time, all of which are detailed in the table below.

CIA Exam Format

Exam PartTitleNumber of QuestionsTesting Time
Part 1Essentials of Internal Auditing125 multiple-choice2.5 hours
Part 2Practice of Internal Auditing100 multiple-choice2 hours
Part 3Business Knowledge for Internal Auditing100 multiple-choice2 hours
Total325 questions6.5 hours

To take the CIA exam, you must:

Experience

The final major requirement you must satisfy to become a CIA is the experience requirement, which involves working in internal auditing or its equivalent for a certain number of years. The amount of work experience you need depends on your education level.

You can apply for, sit, and pass the CIA exam before fulfilling the experience requirement, but you will not be certified as a CIA until you meet this requirement. Additionally, you must complete this requirement within your 3-year program eligibility period.

The IIA allows work experience to be in:

  • Internal Audit
  • Quality Assurance
  • Risk Management
  • Audit/Assessment/Disciplines
  • Compliance
  • External Audit
  • Internal Control
CIA Experience Requirement
Educational Level Work Experience Required*
Master’s degree (or equivalent) 1 year
Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) 2 years
Active Internal Audit Practitioner designation holder 5 years

*Internal Audit experience or equivalent.

Additional CIA exam requirements

There are a few other obligations you must fulfill to earn the CIA. However, these requirements don’t call for as much time or effort on your part.

Identification card with photo and passport for identification CIA exam requirement

Proof of identification

Before you can be approved into the CIA certification program, you must submit proof of identification. The IIA only accepts current and valid identification in one of the following forms:

  • Government-issued driver’s license
  • Passport
  • Military ID
  • Alien registration card (green card, permanent resident via, etc.)
  • Government-issued local language ID (plastic card with a photo and signature, accepted only if used from the country in which the candidate is testing)

 

Signed Non-Disclosure Agreement for confidentiality CIA exam requirement

Confidentiality

Like many professional certification exams, the CIA exam is non-disclosed. Therefore, entrance into the CIA program depends in part on your agreeing to keep the contents of the exam confidential. You are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement at your testing appointment before you will be allowed to take the exam. You will only ever be allowed to discuss the exam content with The IIA’s Certification Department. Disclosing exam information under any other circumstances is a Code of Ethics breach that could result in program disqualification.

Three year calendar for a CIA exam study plan to pass within the eligibility period.

Eligibility period

Once The IIA officially accepts you into the CIA program, you have three years to finish the program by completing every eligibility requirement discussed above. If you do not become certified in your 3-year window, your program eligibility will expire, you will have to reapply to the program, and you must retake any exam parts you passed in your previous eligibility period.

Eligibility Extensions

You can avoid these consequences by applying for an eligibility extension. The IIA allows one-time program eligibility extensions and hardship extensions.

  • The hardship extension is allowed for candidates experiencing extenuating circumstances such as illness, maternity/paternity, death in the family, civil unrest, natural disaster, or military service. If you experience this, you should submit a case through the Certification Candidate Management System (CCMS) detailing the extenuating circumstances and providing supporting documentation.
  • The program eligibility extension allows you to pay to extend your program window by one year. You must complete the process in CCMS before your program expiration date.

Each of these extensions includes its own procedures and fees, which you can learn more about in The IIA’s Certification Candidate Handbook Opens in new window.

Continuing professional education

To maintain your CIA status, you must earn 40 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) with at least two hours of ethics each year. This requirement ensures that your knowledge and skills stay current with the needs and demands of the internal audit field.

Variations in CIA administration

In some countries, The IIA affiliates administer the CIA exam, and the certification processes, pricing, and taxes may vary. For example, CIA candidates residing in South Africa and the United Kingdom/Ireland must be members of The IIA branches within their respective countries.

According to the Certification Candidate Handbook Opens in new window, if you live in one of the countries listed below, you’ll need to refer to your local IIA Institute website or contact your local representative to discover the specifics of your CIA journey.

Global CIA exam requirements

CIA exam requirement exemptions

If you’re already a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) or a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), we’ve got great news! You may be exempt from the CIA education and experience requirements.

The Professional Certification Board (PCB) has determined that the experience requirements for ACCA members and the education requirement for U.S. CPAs meet and/or exceed these requirements for the CIA program. Therefore, the PCB has approved work experience and education exemptions for qualified ACCA members and education exemptions for U.S. CPAs.

To be considered for these exemptions, complete the appropriate fields on the CIA application. The status of your CIA application will be pending while certification administrators confirm that your membership or license is active. But even if you have to wait a little longer for CIA program approval, you won’t have to wait as long for CIA certification thanks to these exemptions!