What are the advantages and disadvantages of promoting personnel across functional areas within a company (e.g., from risk and controls to operations)?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Advantages
Employees with a deeper knowledge of the nature of the company’s business and industry
Employees who have developed relationships with other employees, departments, and potentially with
clients
Employees that are cross-trained can fill in during vacations or unexpected needs
Reduced recruiting and training costs—rather than lose an employee seeking new challenges, internal
transfers or promotions retain existing employees
Disadvantages
Employees who know the systems and controls can use that knowledge to exploit internal control
weaknesses
Lack of synergy, less diversity in thinking and working practices.
Sometimes a policy of promotion from within results in retaining and even promoting underqualified
and underperforming employees.
This question can lead into a discussion regarding the hiring of former external auditors and the use of
internal audit as a training area to expose future management candidates to many facets of the organization.