Your game plan for strategic success in today’s remote audit department
Beyond Audit is your guide to taking advantage of this unique moment to review and enhance your audit methodology to improve execution, operations, and audit product. Change has been thrust upon the audit industry, and every company must adapt to business interruptions and remote work environments. Now is the perfect time for audit departments to step back and turn a critical eye on their own operations. We have an opportunity to identify new ways of increasing product offerings and building more effective and efficient operations, ultimately creating better results for our partners and clients.
This book will take you from a foundational understanding of the business environment through to a reflective review of your own operational effectiveness and efficiency. You’ll gain access to the Audit Risk Barometer (ARB), an innovative self-assessment tool that scores audit department strengths and opportunities for improvement. This book also includes a detailed methodology for working with your business partner to ensure clear identification of business objectives. You’ll also learn how to identify “true process risks” to ensure that testing remains focused and adds value. Finally, you'll learn critical skills and team development ideas for every level.
- Gain a fundamental understanding of today's business environment and how traditional and remote auditing fits into the new business puzzle
- Use the exclusive Audit Risk Barometer to conduct a valuable self-assessment and uncover your team’s strengths and weaknesses
- Learn how to effectively and efficiently work with your business partner to identify objectives and value-add opportunities
- Access online resources, including video summaries and interactive tools to revamp your audit department
Beyond Audit incorporates links to online video summaries, templates mentioned throughout the book, interviews with experienced professionals, and an audit tracking software tool. This book is an enormously valuable resource for audit teams of any size and shape.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
About the Author xvii
Chapter 1: What Happened 1
Audit Execution Challenges 2
Understanding Your Role 5
Critical Meeting Keys 7
Chapter 2: Understanding the Remote Approach 11
Traditional versus Remote Audit 11
Recognizing the Challenges 14
Responsibility Assignments 18
Communicating Critical Information 19
Audit Planning 22
Audit Fieldwork 24
Audit Reporting 25
Audit Wrap-Up 26
Chapter 3: Marketing the Internal Audit Department 29
Creating Your Audit Brand 29
Defining Internal Audit 30
Internal Audit’s Three Pillars 32
Explaining the Audit Phases 34
Dispelling the Myths 38
Chapter 4: Building an Effective Audit Team 41
Beyond Audit Learning Map 42
Skills Focus in the Remote Environment 44
Remote Business Partner Meetings 49
Agendas Drive the Meeting 50
Audit Status Memos 53
Remote Auditor Skills Profile 54
Beyond Audit Development Plan 59
Chapter 5: The Methodology - Objective Recognition 61
Improving the Audit Process 61
Beyond Audit - ORC Model 62
Identifying the Business Objective 66
Business Objective Identification Challenge 69
Business Objective Identification in a Remote Audit 70
Business Process Risks 73
Business Process Controls 75
Completing the Audit Planning 77
Chapter 6: Audit Fieldwork 79
Fieldwork Communication 82
Fieldwork Responsibilities 84
Workpaper Requirements 85
Beyond Audit - Baseline Workpaper Components 86
Sufficient Evidence 91
Workpaper Self-Review and Keys 93
Beyond Audit - Top 10 Keys to Managing Fieldwork 93
Chapter 7: The Methodology - Partner Results 101
Communicating Audit Results 101
Understanding the Audit Report Phase 102
Audit Report Foundation 104
Beyond Audit - Issue Discussion Keys 105
Audit Reporting throughout an Audit 106
Effective Internal Audit Report Components 107
Audit Report Challenges 119
Chapter 8: Internal Audit Value 121
Defining Real Action 122
Steps in Creating an Action Plan 125
Action Plan Adoption Process 130
CA Methodology Overview 132
Action Plan Tracking 137
Chapter 9: Internal Audit Dashboards 141
Dashboard Defined 142
Beyond Audit - DDIO Methodology 144
Audit Dashboard Functions 154
Audit Dashboard - Lessons Learned 159
Chapter 10: Communication Focus 161
Understanding the Communication Model 162
Message Delivery 165
The Value of Listening 168
Beyond Audit Advisor Approach 169
Internal Audit Relationships 173
Beyond Audit - Internal Audit Marketing 178
Beyond Audit - Meeting Facilitation Keys 179
Chapter 11: Analyzing Internal Audit 181
Beyond Audit - ARB Methodology 182
ARB Conclusion 197
Chapter 12: How Good is Audit? 199
Introducing the Top Ten 200
Creating an Action Plan 220
Chapter 13: Focused on Learning 221
Remote Learning 222
Index 227
