How do you write a clear and concise quality audit report?

Leveraging my expertise in quality auditing, I stress the significance of meticulous planning for a clear and concise audit report. - Begin by defining the audit's purpose and scope, aligning with objectives and considering the readers' needs. - Gather and analyze evidence systematically, shaping your report's outline. Identify key questions, criteria, and areas for improvement, ensuring alignment with audit standards. - Clarify your plan, keeping it concise and comprehensive, and seek input from your team and stakeholders. This strategic approach lays the foundation for a report that not only meets but exceeds expectations.

Audit report is the outcome or result of your review and is consumed by many stakeholders including regulator. Therefore we need to draft report in such a way that it articulate our recommendation well at the same time not stuffed with too many content. One rightly mentioned " less is more". So we need to write that less very specific and to the point so that readers keen in reading each and every word. Audit report should ideally contain executive summary followed with detail observation including background, recommendation, Risk, and management responses for person understand the observation and would refer details section if being more anxious to learn about that observation.

Best way to start writing is planning, this approach always work. Alignment of ideas, structure it properly , giving proper reference to the guidance are important factors. A clear and precise scope is needed and staying within scope is important. You may refer to areas going out of scope , with proper reference to the point.

Writing a clear and concise quality audit report involves presenting key findings, recommendations, and actions succinctly. Start with an executive summary highlighting major outcomes. Organize the report logically, addressing each aspect of the audit. Use clear language and bullet points for easy comprehension. Conclude with actionable recommendations, prioritized by impact. Keep the report focused, avoiding unnecessary details, and ensure it aligns with the purpose of the audit.

Writing a clear and concise quality audit report requires careful planning and organization. Understand the purpose and scope: Clearly define the purpose and scope of the audit report. Understand the specific objectives and requirements of the audit to ensure that your report addresses them accurately. Structure your report: Divide your report into logical sections to ensure clarity and easy comprehension. A typical structure may include an executive summary, introduction, methodology, findings, recommendations, and conclusion. Use a professional tone: Maintain a professional and objective tone throughout the report. Use clear and concise language, avoid jargon, and ensure that your report is easily understandable by the intended audience.

The importance of writing an Audit Report is to communicate to the auditee, that the requirement of the standard, Legal or that is decided by the organisation is not fulfilled. So, it is helpful to write the 'NC Statement', which includes the information of requirements not fulfilled by the organisation. Then provide the 'Objective Evidence' to support the claim of NC.

While writing your report: - Develop a detailed plan before commencing writing. - Employ clear language, a consistent format, and present findings constructively. - Write the executive summary last, ensuring brevity and informativeness. - The introduction sets the context, criteria, methodology, and introduces the team and auditee. Clearly state limitations. - Organize the findings logically, using visuals and factual explanations. - Conclusions offer an overall assessment, acknowledging good practices. - Recommendations propose realistic, feasible solutions with specified actions, responsibilities, timelines, and resources. - Conclude by expressing appreciation, outlining follow-up procedures, and inviting feedback.

When writing the Non-conformances, you MUST identify the precise area of noncompliance. The Should Be condition will drill down to as close to the exact requirement as possible. In the case of a Standard noncompliance to AS9100 Rev D section 8.7, you will list the section i.e., 8.7.1, then the paragraph, p2, then the bullet point if there is one, bullet 4 Should be: "defining corrective actions for nonconforming products and services detected after delivery, as appropriate to their impacts (see 10.2)." Then the As Found Condition As Found: no evidence of corrective action implementation for escaped defects. This leaves no room for argument or justification for appeal.

Also a good way to structure the report findings are: Condition - what has happened or is happening. This should explain clearly what went wrong with a brief methodology to explain how we determined this condition. Criteria - what should be happening. Laws, regulations, policies, etc. This should let the readers know of the correct requirements. Cause - what caused the condition. This should provide the readers the root cause of what led to the condition (s). This often gets confused with the condition. Focus on the root cause. Effect - what’s the impact of the condition. For example, financial, health related, morale etc. Recommendation- this is corrective action that addresses the root cause. Should be practical and feasible.

In summary, expressing audit findings effectively requires clear and precise language. 1. Use Precise Language: Employ clear and concise language to ensure easy understanding. 2. Be Specific: Clearly state what, where, and when findings were identified, using concrete examples and evidence. 3. Avoid Interpretation: Maintain objectivity by refraining from adding personal interpretations or judgments. 4. Provide Context: Explain the significance of findings within the broader organizational context. 5. Present findings in a structured format with titles, concise statements, criteria, evidence, and implications. 6. Substantiate findings with documents, records, interviews, or observations to enhance credibility and validity.

Extremely important step is review your own work. This gives you chance not only to correct, but also incorporate ideas which comes once you read your work again. This way you will picture your thoughts in a more concise way.

The review gives you the opportunity to reproduce the written statement of reproducibility. The wording is essential for the auditee to have same understanding- to be able to solve the circumstances

In my opinion, the first thing to do is to define the audience. Answering the question "Who will be reading the report?" is a good starting point. Once you know to whom you will be "talking to", following questions would be: "what internal audit want them to know?" "Which are the key messages?" Knowing what you are going to say and to whom, you are ready for preparing an scheme of the audit report. After those planning steps, begin writing and do not forget to include positive aspects related to the reviewed process.

Once any report is drafted, it is essential that review occurs either by yourself or your peers. Tools such as spellcheck (F7 to execute in MS Word or Grammarly) is a quick and easy way to perform spelling and grammar checks on any document and provide statistics and suggestions to aid in your writing. NB: it is essential that you select the correct language dictionary for your report as there are variations in spelling between dialects (an example of this is English (US) and English (UK)). Peer review allows for fresh insights to be provided and eventually incorporated into your report. As a writer, we know our intention and sometime the result is far from what we originally intended. Peer review and feedback assists in remedying this.

The final polish is what makes your report shine. Typos and errors scream unprofessionalism, so meticulous proofreading is key. But accuracy goes beyond grammar. Double-check facts and ensure everything aligns with the audit's goals. Ignoring feedback leaves valuable insights on the table, so actively seek input from your team and stakeholders. One last revision incorporating this feedback ensures your report is not just clean, but impactful and ready to make a difference.

As an Auditor, we cannot tell the clients the "Why" of a finding. That is for them to identify. Once we start answering for them, we are advising or consulting. This is forbidden of auditors and can impact your career as an auditor. Be very careful when giving anything that could be considered advice.

As each Audit is unique so are the Audit reports! While in some cases drilling down to the specific sub-clause is the correct approach. In other cases, it may be helpful to the client to take a broader approach. This will allow them to evaluate the real root cause instead of focusing on a specific point. My approach has always been to keep the finding(s) at a level that gives room for discovery and evaluation of the process under audit without putting a quick fix on what appears to be the perceived issue.

Stating findings clearly is imperative; however, incomplete. The "why" of the finding is equally impacting. Solutions to a non-conformance or suggested improvement can be garnered not solely in the opportunity found, but the rationale used when it is noted. This approach allows the reader insight to avenues of resolution or implementation that are more process and procedural driven, thus encouraging an attitude continual improvement. The audit report is for the audited. Quality is not a destination, but the road map for the journey.

Be precise in your communication, and always base your writing on facts. Use the 5Cs (Criteria, Condition, Cause, Consequence, and Corrective Action) as a guide to ensure completeness of the finding/report. Important to note, however, is that some sections of the report especially the cause, should be provided by the client as the auditor's view may be 'speculative'. Know your audience as this will help write a report that communicates effectively. It is also important to understand your client's business and their risk maturity.

Some brief points: 1. Know your audience, and business. Aim to deliver an end product which reflects your work performed. 2. Be as brief as possible while conveying your findings as best as you can. 3. Always base your recommendations on either Internal Policies and Procedures, Industry Best Practices, Standards or Frameworks. And remember importance of continuing professional development in the field of Auditing. It is not a means to an end of maintaining certification but it is a requirement since the environment is continuously changing and we should keep abreast of these changes in order to be effective auditors.