Leadership matters and makes a difference in the minds of stakeholders. Internal audit functions that have very effective leadership perform better and add greater value to their businesses. Strong internal audit leaders build functions that excel at delivering value today while they evolve to stay current with emerging business needs and risks. For those reasons, PwC’s 2016 State of the Internal Audit Profession Study focuses on the characteristics that define standout leadership so that stakeholders can re-examine their expectations and internal audit leaders can reflect on their own leadership styles in order to achieve closer stakeholder alignment and better performance.