How to Improve Your Audit Product

Publication Date: July 1, 2021

Professionals are generally aware that the final deliverable of a product is judged on more than the quality of the service itself. A client’s overall perception throughout an engagement plays a vital role in their satisfaction and cooperation with internal audit. This article provides suggestions on how to improve the overall audit product and relationships with audit clients.

1. Make it clear that you are there to help

Ask the client how internal audit can help. 

Ask the client how internal audit can help. A great way to start the conversation is by asking for a list of process improvements over a period of time (e.g. two years) and then verifying that they were implemented. Depending on the structure of the institution’s audit report, process improvements should be addressed first, if they are included in the report. If they are not included in the official report, auditors should outline process improvements in an informal memorandum or discuss them verbally with the client.

Additionally, internal audit can provide assistance to clients through the audit report, which can be leveraged to help the client achieve their goals. For example, making recommendations and highlighting areas for improvement may have more impact when included in an audit report and suggested in this formal manner to senior leadership. However, it is important to keep in mind that internal audit should not be involved in any implementation of these recommendations to maintain independence and objectivity.

2. Use proper terminology when addressing clients

In the business world, clients are generally referred to as, well, clients. Avoid addressing clients in ways that could have negative connotations, such as “entity under audit” or “auditee.” It may be helpful to think from the client’s perspective on how it might feel to be audited and referred to as the auditee. Being respectful and friendly to the client during communications will help with the intimidation factor that clients may feel when being audited. 

3. Put clients at ease

For many clients, learning that they are being audited or even meeting with internal audit induces a level of fear or anxiety. While it seems that auditors are stereotyped as scary intruders who want to upset the status quo, it is helpful to gently remind clients this is not the case and work to change their perspective. The following suggestions offer some ideas that may help convey that internal audit wants to collaborate with clients to achieve mutual goals:

• Start the audit with Preliminary Information Gathering (PING) meetings. This allows internal audit to gather history and become familiar with the client’s operations. This information can then be used to shape the audit program. 
• Document internal audit’s understanding in writing and distribute it to stakeholders, requesting confirmation that it is correct. To further demonstrate that internal audit seeks to collaborate with the client, suggest in the communication that stakeholders make comments and edits as they see fit.  

4. Report audit findings in context

Research the history of the audit area (e.g. changes to systems, processes or personnel) by using the client’s institutional knowledge and other resources.

Research the history of the audit area (e.g. changes to systems, processes or personnel) by using the client’s institutional knowledge and other resources. Including this information in the audit scope shows both stakeholders and leadership that internal audit has made a genuine effort to produce a quality, relevant deliverable.  

Example: Internal audit discovers that the database the client is using has duplications and errors. Internal audit becomes aware that the audit area had four directors in the last four years and that the data was managed by many individuals over this period. The current data manager has held the position for six months and made many improvements to fix the database. Internal audit highlights the data manager’s efforts during ongoing discussions and in the audit report. As a result, internal audit gains the trust and appreciation of the client and management, thereby developing the foundation for a great relationship.

5. Use graphics and other tools to emphasize your points and make them easily understood

The success of many online platforms depends on their ease of use and simplicity. Twitter, for example, limits messages to 280 characters. The most common length of a tweet is 33 characters. Historically, only nine percent of tweets hit Twitter’s former 140-character limit; now it is only one percent.

Another online platform, Pinterest, utilizes images, videos and text – infographics – that allow users to discover information through various means. As of the publication of this article, there are over 200 billion pins on Pinterest, and 87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest.

The use of tables, graphs and slides can appeal to end users (e.g. stakeholders and leadership) and increase engagement during the presentation of a deliverable. Additionally, presenting a deliverable with PowerPoint seems to be underutilized in our profession. Introducing this as a method to present audit information and harnessing its formatting capabilities (e.g. fonts and color themes) can amaze management.  

6. Present executive highlights that convey some of the detail, and the entire picture, at the same time.

Management and clients want straightforward, easy-to-understand summaries.

While this may sound like a contradiction, here is how it is done. Auditors love spreadsheets, replete with formulas, tiny explanations, footnotes and other auditing paraphernalia. But, more often than not, it is only auditors who truly care about them. Management and clients want straightforward, easy-to-understand summaries. Therefore, consider highlighting – and succinctly conveying – major points with only as much detail as needed to clarify and support internal audit’s findings. These major points should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE), which means they should stand alone and, together, present the complete picture. This allows internal audit to integrate the findings and recommendations in a way that conveys the total picture.  

In summary, internal audit can improve the quality of audits and relationships with clients by adhering to a few basic principles. Convey the idea that internal audit wants to help, treat clients respectfully, and keep the audience in mind when writing and presenting the audit report.