Internal audit's job is to give the board independent assurance that risk management and controls work, and the CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), granted by the IIA, is the credential hiring managers look for once you're past the staff level. Indeed puts the average base salary for US internal auditors at about $102,000, from roughly 3,000 job postings over the past three years (updated September 2026). That's every internal auditor, not only CIA holders, and it's base pay before any bonus.
Where the jobs are
Every US public company has an internal audit function, because SOX made control assurance permanent, and bank and insurance regulators require one too. Unlike a CPA firm, which gives an opinion on the financial statements once a year for investors, internal audit reports to the audit committee all year and covers operations, compliance, IT and fraud risk. No one in internal audit signs an audit opinion, so the CPA is optional and the CIA is the direct signal.
People come in straight from an accounting or finance degree, or move over from Big 4 external audit after a couple of busy seasons, which is a popular move because the hours are better and the scope is wider.
The ladder
Staff to senior takes two to three years, and seniors run fieldwork and draft findings. Audit manager is where the CIA starts paying off, since manager and director postings routinely list it as required or preferred. Managers own parts of the audit plan and the relationships with the executives whose processes they audit. Above that sit director and chief audit executive (CAE), who reports functionally to the board, which makes it a real executive seat with exposure to the audit committee and regulators.
Internal auditors see every process in the company, so the exits are good too: they move into SOX and compliance management, second-line risk roles and IT audit, often pairing the CIA with a CISA.
Cost and how to qualify
The exam has three multiple-choice parts (125, 100 and 100 questions, no computational sections), scored 250 to 750 with 600 to pass. The IIA's last published pass rates, on a page it has since retired, were 44%, 48% and 56% for Parts 1, 2 and 3. The syllabus is keyed to the 2024 Global Internal Audit Standards. Certification also requires 24 months of internal audit or equivalent experience with a bachelor's degree (12 with a master's), verified after the exams. At IIA member rates, the cash cost is the one-time application fee of $120 plus exam fees of $310, $280 and $280.
FreeFellow's CIA Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 practice is free (full banks, explanations for each answer choice and 62 written lessons), so your study cost is just the IIA fees.