What's your strategy for working with stakeholders during an audit?

I agree, identifying your stakeholders and aligning their expectations with the scope of the audit, audit process as well as it’s outcome is one of the key prerequisites for a smooth audit execution.

My approach starts with hearing them first from their business and operation point of view. I then try to reframe my audit questions aligned to those key words which the auditee can relate. This helps in alignment and also easy resolution of disagreement. Talk the same language and identify areas that need improvement.

Knowing the key stakeholders are indeed important, as after all, an audit involves speaking with people and these are the ones who are part of the overall process and they are not confined to internal stakeholders only. It is important to identify who are the ones the auditors need to speak to during audit planning, so that the auditors know who to zero in come the fieldwork proper. By identifying these stakeholders, the auditors could also book their time in advance for the process interviews. In a way, this is like giving them ample notice and to have them mentally prepared that they have been selected for the audit. This should also facilitate both sides, auditors and auditees, so that the audit can take place in an effective manner.

Defining clear goals,setting up open communication channels,engaging the stakeholders to understand their real time challenges and being empathetic towards them,managing the expectations by clearly defining the limitations of audit and what are the outcomes and stakeholders feedbacks on the value adds provided are some of the areas we should focus during audit.

Simple Strategy of ' FEED' in Audit - Find Enquire Engage Deliver to your stakeholders . Find out who are your stakeholders and what are their expectations Enquire organisational resources movements inch by inch to deliver the best outcome to stakeholders Engage with stakeholders actively so the information is not pale Deliver what is expected of in a simple format

Having proper communication is crucial, especially since nobody likes to be audited and being told the flaws of the processes that they are responsible for. Being upfront and transparent are things that the auditors can do to allay the concerns of the auditees and to provide the assurance that the auditors just want to help versus to penalize management. Adopting such an approach, without the unnecessary surprise, could also result in management being more receptive to the issues put forth by the auditors and with that, a greater buy-in on the part of management.

Open and honest communication throughout the audit process again helps in avoiding any last minute surprises and stakeholders would then value the purpose of the audit, rather than considering it to be a tick box item.

I always believe that performing an audit is neither a policing nor fault finding exercise. Rather, the main aim is to work with the stakeholders to ascertain if the current process can be further improved. If the current status is no good, we work together with our stakeholders to make it better. If it is good, we make it best. The overall idea has to revolve around making the process better and with that, the corporate governance of the company/business would be improved. If auditors hold this view, the stakeholders would likely be more willing to partner the auditors versus resisting them.

Most important thing is to be a good listener . Listen and understand the context and background of the project from stakeholders perspective. It will help to align the question to access the project with its own context and compare with standards . Then it will become easy to identify what is going on well and what needs improvement to achieve the stakeholders objectives