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Developing a successful audit plan requires prioritization, planning, legwork, and follow-up meetings. Prioritize mandatory audits, estimate time, establish cooperation, and establish ground rules for independent operation. Collect relevant and objective evidence for productive audit fieldwork.
Developing a successful audit plan requires planning, prioritization, legwork, and one or more follow-up meetings. Before initiating any audit plan, determine the audit universe, which is the type, areas, and number of entities to be audited, as well as the specific processes to be used in the audit. When developing an audit plan, priorities must be established, the scope and scope of the audit must be determined, cooperation within the company or organization must be established, and standards for evidence must be established.
The first step in any audit plan is to prioritize and focus on mandatory audits. Audits must first be identified as discretionary or mandatory. A little research will reveal whether specific organization or company audits might be required by certain regulatory requirements. For example, the New York Stock Exchange requires an internal audit for all publicly traded companies. Some private companies also set rules for mandatory internal and external audits.
Once the scope of the audit is established, create a detailed estimate of the time required to complete the entire audit process. If you are working with a team or staff of individuals, this would be the time to review the strengths and weaknesses of each individual team member and determine how much time each person can contribute to the audit plan. Calculate the estimated time based on the total number of staff members available and how much time each person can spend on the audit and necessary follow-up meetings. With vacation, sick days, training days, and vacation time subtracted, full-time employees who work a 40-hour work week have about 1,800 hours available over the span of a year.
The success of any true audit plan will depend largely on the collaboration and cooperation of key managers, directors, executives, and board members. Audits are generally viewed as invasive and intrusive, and may be viewed negatively by some employees. A successful audit plan must be carried out regardless of any interference from employees or company personnel to produce an objective view of specific areas or entities within an organization. To ensure an accurate, objective, and successful audit, establish ground rules of independent operation from the start.
Productive audit fieldwork requires the establishment of procedures to collect, analyze, and evaluate evidence. Determine the type of evidence to collect, how much to collect, and whether that evidence is really relevant and useful. An auditor must understand the particular company or organization and its environment to discern what types of evidence need to be collected. Procedures for audit fieldwork should include the collection of evidence that is objective, helps reach a specific conclusion, and supports final audit recommendations.
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