Simple Reminders for Internal Audit Directors
Internal Audit Directors (Vice Presidents, Chief Audit Executives, etc.) have a delicate balance to maintain in the office. They are in a unique position of having to not only run their own department, but also have positive relationships with the Audit Committee and every other Executive, Manager and Department Head. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the small things that are important.
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Audit Reports
Every Internal Audit Department we’ve worked with has had three issues with their audit reports.
1) Timeliness of distribution. Do you rewrite every report, go through 3 levels of review, adjust the font, set up meetings and then reschedule them multiple times, then realize the audit was over 6 months ago and the report still hasn’t been issued?
- Standardize your reports, limiting the need to adjust mundane issues
- Ensure your auditors are communicating with the auditees throughout the audit, requiring what is in the first draft has already been communicated to the proper managers
- Set deadlines and hold people accountable. Including yourself.
2) Length of the report. Get to the point. Do you want to read a 50 page report on why buying copy paper from one company is better than buying it from another company, even though it’s $1.25 per case more expensive? No? Then stop adding in lengthy details to your own reports.
3) I’m leaving this one blank, you have your own answers for this one.
Give a Peace Offering
Think about the next audit that hasn’t started yet. Internal Audits are a “necessary evil” to many people. See if you can adjust their view by being friendly. Take the Manager (or whomever is in charge of what you’re auditing) out to lunch in advance of the audit. Have donuts dropped off in that area of the office the first day of the audit (and the last). These small steps can pay dividends when your team requests samples or sends out a first draft of the report for review. Responses might come a bit quicker.
Non-Auditor Training
Do you get complaints that either the auditee sent the wrong information or keeps questioning every request and question from your team? It might be a gap in communication and general lack of understanding from the auditee. Instead of arguing and demanding, why not add time to the schedule this year (don’t wait until next year) to conduct cross-company training? An auditee should understand what proper audit evidence looks like. The purpose of an audit. How information flows between departments within a company. You’ll probably find some process improvement opportunities and add real value to your company in the process.
Department Training
Many departments lack solid training, typically due to budget restraints. An easy way to address this is to have each member of the department join a different professional organization (such as the IIA, ACFE or ISACA). Then work with each to identify local, inexpensive training options which have topics that are valuable to either the entire group, or to that individual.
If you aim for one training event a month, rotating between the different organizations, you’ll see positive dividends very quickly.
