Internal Auditor Performance: A Comparison of Self‐ratings and Supervisor Ratings

A survey of 455 internal auditors in 13 organizations asked respondents to evaluate their performance. A similar request was made for performance evaluation from the immediate supervisor of these individuals. Comparisons indicated that audit staff systematically rate their performances higher than supervisors. Staff self‐ratings and supervisor ratings prove significantly different in several ways. These differences include the relationship of individual items to the construct of overall performance and their relationship to other important employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, commitment, and turnover intentions. Implications of these differences and recommendations for improvement in the evaluation of performance are provided.