Abstract
The Professional Practices Framework for Internal Auditing (PPF) has been developed and announced by the Institute of Internal Auditors in January 2002 in order to delineate basic principles that represent the practice of internal auditing as it should be, provide a framework for performing and promoting a broad range of value-added internal audit activities, establish the basis for the measurement of internal audit performance, and foster improved organizational processes and operations. The heart of the study was based on a questionnaire and the use of a computer analysis tool enabled the researcher to analyze and pinpoint the conclusions, which provided evidence of internal auditors’ perceptions regarding available standards in PPF and significant gaps existed between practical application of the standards. The findings of this study indicated that the standards in PPF were agreed in general according to internal auditors’ perceptions. Significant gaps between practical application and the standards were：functions belong to Audit Committee and internal auditing could not be operated effectively; most internal audit activities were compliance tests rather than based on risk assessments; the ethical culture of Taiwan enterprises had not been widely established, It cased to employees unable to be encouraged to contribute to the ethical climate of an organization; high turnover rate of audit staff owing to both stress in the internal auditing profession and the difficulty of transfers; The conclusion of the study was that Gray Audit Committee commonly existed in Taiwan enterprises, it could cause to chain reaction of “Audit Committee-Internal Audit Work-Internal Auditor”. However, the results suggest that the effectiveness of Audit Committee and internal audit function are two keys to reduce gaps between standards and practical application.