CIA: Certified Internal Auditor
The CIA is the global certification for internal auditors, aligned to the IIA's Global Internal Audit Standards. Most candidates sit three parts. Qualified accountants and CISA holders can take the single Challenge Exam instead.
Why take the CIA?
If internal audit is your career, or you want it to be, the CIA is the credential the profession is built around.
The global mark of an internal auditor
The CIA is The IIA’s flagship certification, recognised by employers and audit committees around the world as proof that you know the profession’s standards and can apply them.
Built on today’s Standards
The exams follow the 2024 Global Internal Audit Standards, so what you study is what the profession now expects in practice: purpose, ethics, governance and quality.
Roles it opens
Internal audit at every level, risk and compliance, controls and assurance roles, and the path to leading a function that reports to the board.
A route that fits you
Sit three parts in any order within three years, or, if you’re an approved CPA or CA holder or a qualified CISA holder, one Challenge Exam instead.
Pick your exam
CIA Part 1
Internal Audit Fundamentals
Foundations, ethics, governance, risk and control, and fraud.
Study packs →100 questions · 120 minutesCIA Part 2
Internal Audit Engagement
Planning, performing and supervising an engagement.
Study packs →100 questions · 120 minutesCIA Part 3
Internal Audit Function
Running the function: operations, the audit plan, quality and results.
Study packs →150 questions · 180 minutesCIA Challenge
CIA Challenge Exam
One exam in place of the three parts, for approved CPA and CA holders and qualified CISA holders.
Study packs →