Meet periodically with the external auditor. Discuss areas of common interest and gain an understanding of the audit results and the methods that were used to arrive at those results. Internal auditors should collaborate with external auditors in a transparent manner during auditing verification to minimize redundancies and increase efficiency.
Ensure that in generating the evidence, the external auditor complies with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) standards. The AICPA sets out the accounting, auditing procedures and reporting practices to be followed by auditors. These standards require that auditors engage in proper analysis of the internal records before issuing an opinion.
Find out that there is a fair presentation of financial statements. Use the internal audits to compare the results arrived at by the external auditor. Consider that a fair assessment does not mean that the statements are fraud-proof. It means that the auditor has complied with good accounting practices to arrive at the conclusion.
Use the Sarbanes-Oxley regulation on auditing to establish that the external auditor is independent and that there is no conflict of interest with the company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 prohibits the external auditor from providing internal audit services to the same company. This will ensure that corruption is minimized in external auditing reports.