Qualities of a Good Audit Procedure

Qualities of a good audit procedure

Are you using the same methodology year after year for all your audits? Then you’re probably not checking for the following good audit procedure qualities:

• Pointed
• Strong
• Cheap
• Easy

Pointed: Objective is directly answered

The objective must be clearly defined and stable. Remember, a good audit objective has a finite subject matter, a firm criteria, is stated as a question and may include a performance aspect.

Strong: It creates convincing evidence

Three facets affect the strength of evidence: The type, the source and the amount gathered.

• Type: Evidence can be physical, documentary or testimonial. The GAO describes the types of evidence in the Yellow Book.
• Source: Where your evidence comes from matters… a lot! Auditees aren’t exactly objective so please don’t source everything from them.
• Quantity: The more evidence we have, the stronger it is.

Cheap: It is worth your time?

We know we need enough convincing evidence, but each piece we gather may be costly. Why take a whole week when only a half-a-day could be enough? It is simply wasteful of time and, most likely, money.

Easy: Evidence is easily-accessible

Some information is difficult to get. Maybe you need additional training to work with it. Sometimes you need to make extraordinary effort to get anything at all.

Want to Learn More?

Use these four audit procedure qualities – pointed, strong, cheap and easy – to determine you’re on the right path. If not, it’s time to design a new methodology! Download and print a PDF copy of this infographic to keep with your other paperwork.

Get up to speed with the Essential Skills Bundle. In a combination of video and text courses, you’ll learn how to think through an audit project as well as valuable client relation skills.