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Fellowship

Fellowship of the Chartered IIA is an honoured position providing a public acknowledgement of a members’ significant experience and contribution to the profession. 

You can nominate yourself for fellowship if you are already a Chartered Internal Auditor and can demonstrate your exceptional service or contribution to the profession. Application is made in the form of a written statement, which is considered by our nominations committee.

If your fellowship is awarded, you will be able to use the designation CFIIA. The cost to apply for fellowship is £150. 


Apply for fellowship today


Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for fellowship you must be able to show that you have made a significant contribution to promoting the profession and/or that you have a significant record of relevant academic achievement.

Listed below are some examples of the sort of evidence which could be provided.  It is not necessary to provide evidence on every point but neither is this list meant to be exhaustive.

1. Promotion of the profession  

Through your role:

  • You hold a position where you influence the profession
  • You hold a senior position of employment, such as head of internal audit
  • You can demonstrate that you have promoted the profession among your peers, eg by taking part in benchmarking or peer discussion groups
  • You can demonstrate innovation/thought leadership within your professional role.

Through volunteering:

  • You are active within and make a significant contribution to the Chartered IIA – this can be through volunteering on committees, task forces or working groups, or drafting guidance
  • You develop the profession in others ways, such as through thought leadership, writing articles or innovation.

2. Academic achievement 

  • You hold relevant academic achievements
  • You are heavily involved in relevant academic research
  • You might be a chartered fellow of another relevant professional body
  • You might be an acknowledged expert in a particular field, with published work. 

Written statement and supporting documents

To apply for fellowship, you need to submit a supporting statement and provide one or two references.

1. Fellowship statement

Your statement must be a maximum of 2,000 words and explain why you consider your achievements merit the distinction of fellowship. There is no template for this. You must provide enough detail to allow a fair assessment, but please keep the report concise and factual. You should also state which criteria, described above, apply in your case.

2. Referees

Please provide either two referees, or one referee who is already a fellow of the Chartered IIA. Referees must be known to you for at least a year.

Download the reference form (Word document)

3. Supporting documents

You also need to submit your CV, and, if you are citing promotion of the profession as your achivement, an organisational chart that clearly shows your position.

If you are relying on your academic achievements in your application, please also submit copies of academic or other relevant awards achieved.


How is your application assessed?

Your application will be referred to the next available meeting of our nominations committee. The committee meets four times a year, it can therefore be two to three months before your application is assessed. If you are successful we will send you a fellowship certificate. 

If you are unsuccessful, you may apply again after 12 months – you will need to pay the application fee again.


Other routes to fellowship

The majority of fellowships will made through the nomination process described above. 

Sometimes chartered by experience candidates are recommended for fellowship following their interview, if the CBE assessor feels that they meet the criteria.

In exceptional circumstances the Council may award fellowship through election or honorary fellowship.

Fellowship by election is for people who are not eligible for fellowship by nomination, but who have made a significant contribution to the profession. Members who have been designated fellows of the Chartered IIA in this way may use the designation FIIA.

Honorary fellowship is reserved for people of influence who have contributed either directly or indirectly to the profession of internal auditing, but who are not practising internal auditors. It carries no voting rights, and does not make the recipient a member. Due to the exceptional nature of these types of fellowship, they are instigated solely by the Council.


Questions

If you have questions about how to apply for fellowship, please contact us on 020 7498 0101 or at membership@iia.org.uk