The concept of internal audit has become vital in Romania, with the accession to the European Union and the need to ensure the premises of a central and local public administration centered on the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, economy, legality and compliance with national and European standards of internal managerial control, risk management and governance. The aim of the paper is to advocate for achieving a balance between audit and governance, on the one hand, and audit and risk management, on the other hand. In this regard, Romania, through the Law on Internal Public Audit, has highlighted the role of the risk identification process for the planning of internal public audit missions.