Thank goodness you don’t have to audit every control relevant to your objective, just the KEY controls!
Blog
How to do an audit in 14 steps
Auditing can get complicated, especially when you are using audit tools developed by someone else. Sometimes you get so hung up in checking all the boxes and filling in all the blanks, that you lose sight of the big picture. Here is how to do an audit in 14 steps so that you know where […]
Audit Interview Skill: Listening
How can you learn anything if you are talking? My PawPaw always told his grandchildren that if our mouths were moving, we weren’t learning. If your mouth is moving, you aren’t conducting an audit interview; you are making a presentation! 90% of the sound should be coming from the interviewee, not you! Assess your audit […]
Focus on a narrow audit objective
The 2018 version of the Yellow Book mentions audit objectives 163 times in one chapter on performance audits! That tells me that objectives run the show! And you know, the broader your audit objective, the longer your audit becomes and the harder your audit report is to write. A few years ago, I created […]
Does Your Audit Shop Have Enough Resources to Accomplish Its Goals?
Does Audit Have Enough Personnel and Financial Resources to Accomplish Its Goals? Picture this: your audit organization is a ship navigating the high seas and the CAE is the captain leading you to your next discovery. But before you set sail, you need to make sure your ship is stocked, your crew is ready, and […]
The elements of an audit finding
The elements of an audit finding are so core to planning, performing, and reporting on an audit, one newsletter can only scratch the surface on all that needs to be said! In this newsletter, we will just get a sense of what the elements of an audit finding are. What are the elements of a […]
Audit Report Writing Tip: The Three Stages of Editing
The editing hierarchy for audit reports When I first began my role as editor of audit reports in a large audit office, I edited in the silliest way possible. I wasted so much time and caused so much animosity, it is surprising they kept me on the payroll. Here is what I would do: I […]
Audit interviews can change color very quickly
In relating to others—especially the ultra-sensitive, elusive creature known as the audit client—we do well to imagine ourselves as lead chameleons. Chameleons change colors with the environment they are in. It is your job, as lead chameleon, to create the tone—the color, if you will—of the audit interview. Here are two aspects of being a […]
How Auditors Help Take Care of Federal Grants
How NOT to take care of a grant My generous father paid for my entire education at the University of Texas back in the ‘80s. For the first two years, he paid the University directly for my tuition, dormitory, and food plan. Tuition then was a whopping $464 a semester! I estimate he might have […]
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