Although the literature on internal auditing is only burgeoning, it provides knowledge on the conflicts inherent to the role of internal auditors. Given such circumstances we ask how internal auditors frame their own role and function, in order to understand the basis on which they find support to handle the situations they face. Based on 29 semi-structured interviews with internal audit executives in Swedish public sector agencies this study describes the role of the internal auditor as a bundle of aspects and facets in tension with each other and how internal auditors frame and manage the complexity and precariousness that they find themselves in. In doing this we contribute to the literature on the role of the internal auditor from the perspective of Swedish internal auditors and how they manage conflicting demands.