ECIIA, the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing, celebrated its 25th anniversary in Brussels on 15 and 16 October 2026. For the occasion, ECIIA made a video in which seven former Presidents look back. One of them is Thijs Smit, Associate Partner Internal Audit Leadership at ONE Risk Advisory. We are pleased with this recognition for Thijs and are happy to share the video.
ECIIA screened the short version of the video at the ECIIA Conference 2026 and the full version at the dinner for former Presidents. Above is the full version, in English, 6 minutes. The 3-minute short version is on our LinkedIn page.
Seven former Presidents on 25 years of ECIIA
Seven former Presidents of ECIIA speak in the video, in this order: Thijs Smit (the Institute of Internal Auditors Netherlands, IIA Netherlands), Jean-Pierre Garitte (IIA Belgium), Henrik Stein (DIIR, Germany), Carolyn Dittmeier (IIA Italy), John Bendermacher (IIA Netherlands), Farid Aractingi (IFACI, France) and Massimiliano Turconi (IIA Italy). Two of the seven come from the Netherlands. They congratulate ECIIA on its anniversary, share memories of their own presidency and, in the closing section headed What comes next, look ahead.
The ECIIA Conference 2026 was hosted by IIA Belgium under the theme Internal Audit at Europe’s Crossroads: Navigating Change Towards Tomorrow, with participants from more than 40 countries. Afterwards, ECIIA described the video as a great success that received a very warm response from the audience.
Thijs Smit and ECIIA
Thijs Smit served on the ECIIA board for five years, the last two as President. In Audit Magazine (1 July 2022, in Dutch) he put it this way: “At ECIIA, the European IIA, I was a board member for five years, the last two as President.” On its own website, ECIIA listed him as President in 2014 and 2015, among others in a publication on cooperation between internal auditors and supreme audit institutions in the public sector.
At IIA Netherlands, Thijs spent more than 25 years as a committee member, board member and chair of the board, and from 2009 to 2013 he was a board member of the global IIA.
What is ECIIA?
ECIIA is the European umbrella organisation of the national institutes of internal auditors, based in Brussels. According to ECIIA’s history page, cooperation between the European institutes began in 1980; the confederation has existed as a legal entity since 2001, the year that counts for the 25th anniversary. ECIIA brings together 36 national institutes and represents more than 58,000 internal auditors across Europe (source: ECIIA, October 2026). IIA Netherlands is one of those institutes.
ECIIA is best known for Risk in Focus, the annual survey of the risks that Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) across Europe put at the top of their audit plans.
About Thijs Smit at ONE Risk Advisory
Thijs Smit has been an Associate Partner at ONE Risk Advisory since 1 January 2023, within our Internal Audit practice. His specialisms are Internal Audit Leadership, quality assessments, coaching audit management, complex audit environments and the interim CAE role. He is a Dutch chartered accountant (RA) and a Certified Internal Auditor, was Chief Audit Executive of six companies and spent seven years on the Quality Assessment Board of IIA Netherlands, the last three as chair.
Read more about Thijs on our team page.
Frequently asked questions
What is ECIIA?
ECIIA, the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing, is the European umbrella organisation of national institutes of internal auditors, based in Brussels and established as a legal entity in 2001. ECIIA brings together 36 national institutes, including IIA Netherlands, and represents more than 58,000 internal auditors (ECIIA, October 2026).
What was Thijs Smit’s role at ECIIA?
Thijs Smit served on the ECIIA board for five years, the last two as President. In its 2026 anniversary video, ECIIA presents him as one of seven former Presidents. He was also chair of the board of IIA Netherlands and, from 2009 to 2013, a board member of the global IIA.
Where can I watch ECIIA’s anniversary video?
The full 6-minute version is on this page and on the YouTube channel of ONE Risk Advisory. The 3-minute short version, screened at the ECIIA Conference 2026, is on the LinkedIn page of ONE Risk Advisory. The video is in English.
What does Thijs Smit do at ONE Risk Advisory?
Thijs Smit is Associate Partner Internal Audit Leadership at ONE Risk Advisory. He carries out quality assessments, coaches and trains internal audit management, fills the CAE role on an interim basis and leads audit engagements in complex environments.
Further reading
- Thijs Smit opens the NBA interview series Getekend, with the NBA’s video interview
- Evolution, really? Thijs Smit on the Global Internal Audit Standards, his column in Audit Magazine
- ECIIA Conference 2026 and ECIIA, the organisers’ websites
- In our glossary: Chief Audit Executive (CAE)
Would you like to talk to Thijs about the position of your internal audit function, the audit plan or a quality assessment? Contact us.