Why Audit Reports Might Be a Waste of Time
Chidambaram Karthik Narayanan
Financial & IT Audit Leader | GRC & Risk Management | CA, CISA | Lifelong Learner | The Best is Yet to Come | Richard Chambers’ 2024 Internal Audit Beacon Award Winner
Here's a quote from Norman Marks' article:
"The audit report is, at best, a way to communicate that information. It documents the fact that we completed the audit. Why is that even necessary?"
This really hit home for me. Why are we still so fixated on writing reports when they don't always serve their purpose? In many cases, leaders don’t need a full report. They want quick, actionable insights—something they can use right away.
In my opinion, it’s time we step back and question the value we’re adding. If writing a 20-page report isn’t the best way to communicate with senior executives, then why not try something different? A concise meeting or a brief email might be all that’s needed to deliver the important details without wasting anyone’s time.
Ultimately, we need to focus on what our customers need to know and how they want to hear it. If we can make our communication more efficient, we’ll create more value and strengthen our relationship with the board and senior management.
What are your thoughts—are you ready to rethink the purpose of audit reports?
#auditing #auditdudeCN #auditors #internalaudit #auditreports #NormanMarks
pensions | audit | risk
3 周Completely agree with Norman Marks on this one: audit reports on the whole do more harm than good. That said, I think that brief reports are generally worse than lengthy ones. It takes a LOT of writing skills to communicate findings concisely without losing crucial nuances that ensure understanding and follow-up, and most auditors are rather poor writers...
High achieving manager and leader with over 20 years experience in Internal Audit, Risk Management, Business Continuity, strategy development, governance and internal controls.
3 周The report should just be providing a summary of the issues and agreed actions to take that you have been discussing all the way through the audit work and the high risk issues for the audit committee. They don't need to war and peace every time.
CMIIA, QIAL, CIA Retired CEO of SWAP Internal Audit Services Cifas Advisory Board member
3 周I think you know my views! ??HillAudit Training Ltd
Director Internal Audit and Risk
3 周A summary ppt report containing the issue & risk, recommendation and management response ( 1 slide per issue) would be a good way to present to the top management and audit committees. However the detailed report containing all the information should be part of the working papers as it would be a very useful reference point of the circumstances that previously existed like the control environment, risks, systems and processes, the data and methods applied etc based on which the previous assurance was given especially if the issues crop up again due to changed circumstances.
Internal Auditor | Risk Management | Process and Internal Control | Mentorship | Guiding next generation auditors | SBGH | Ex PwC | Optimistic
3 周Well personally for me, the content is important than method. A small and concise report or simply an email with observations should be sufficient or maybe even just entry into the system and sharing the same directly to auditee. We need to re think the long report writing utility.