Most economists agree that The Great Recession has ended. With the exception of a few industries and geographical locations, nearly the entire nation is rebounding at the end of the first quarter of 2010. Unlike most other previous recessions, however, the recovery period of this downturn seems to be much slower.

Internal Audit departments faced severe cutbacks during the recession. Now the hiring of auditors has started to resume, but not at the rates of the past, and because internal audit is being pressured to produce more value-added results, the bar has been raised for the qualities and skills required for new hires.

At Lander International we are celebrating our 30th anniversary, so we've been through recessions before, but we feel the effect of the current economic downturn on the audit profession has been profound. Departments across the nation have had to scale back, the Big 4 public accounting firms have laid off record numbers of talented auditors at all levels from partner to new staff. Everyone is wondering how much longer the current downturn will last.

At the 2009 IIA General Audit Management Conference in Washington DC we launched a survey asking the leaders for their opinions on the direction of the economy and the impact and implications of the economic situation for the Audit profession.