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Audit news, opinions and template info

5 days ago
1 min

Vendor Management Audit Work Program

Example Internal Audit Work Program / Risk and Control Matrix (RCM) Maintaining appropriate controls over vendors, such as vendor creates and amends, is important to ensure there is no fraud, the business is meeting any local regulatory requirements in terms of paying small businesses and vendors are being paid within the specified timeframes. We have developed a generic Internal Audit Work Program, or Risk and Control Matrix (RCM) aimed at helping audit teams ensure controls

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My Audit Spot

Apr 29
5 min

Internal Audit Walkthroughs

Why you should perform walkthroughs during planning and develop process maps at the same time Internal Audit planning is one of the most critical stages in an audit. As the quote goes, "proper planning prevents poor performance", and this couldn't be further from the truth with internal audit. Should we have poor planning, our audit fieldwork and subsequent reporting is likely going to chaotic and lack any substantial value to the business. During the planning stage of the au

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My Audit Spot

Apr 21
3 min

Internal Audit Training

Why you need to provide continuous training and coaching to your audit team We often take it for granted, or in some instances, even loathe it, but training and coaching is critical to the success of your internal audit team. Without it, our teams can fall behind and / or become complacent. When new team members join your audit team, it’s important that classroom style training be delivered to them. We have developed three modules to support your induction training: Module 1

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How much of a say should they really have?

My Audit Spot

Feb 27
3 min

How much of a say should they really have?

Determining how much input the auditee should have in the audit scope At the start of each audit, it is important that we undertake detailed and thorough planning to ensure that we identify all risks and controls. As part of planning, we should perform a range of walkthroughs, stakeholder discussions and background / external research. All of this combined will help us to correctly scope the audit, ensuring that we not only provide a level of assurance to management and the a

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My Audit Spot

Feb 22
2 min

Audit Committee Reporting

Presenting your internal audit update to the audit committee Audit committee reporting needs to be simple and to the point, yet contain sufficient information that it can easily stand up on its own. Its a tricky balance to get right, but once the right level of detail is included and all audit committee members are satisfied, the next challenge is the preparation of the audit committee deck. Preparation can often take an excessive amount of time, require a lot of manual input

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Annual Plan Dashboard and Resource Allocator

My Audit Spot

Jan 11
2 min

Annual Plan Dashboard and Resource Allocator

Manager your Internal Audit Annual Plan and team leave Managing the Annual Plan and team leave is not an easy task. There are so many competing priorities. You have to deliver X amount of audits by the end of the year with only Y team members, and there is every chance once of those team members could leave during the year. You then have to make sure you deliver a Z audits to each quarterly audit committee, but you then need to make sure each team member has ample time to tak

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Audit Objectives - What are your goals for 2021?

My Audit Spot

Dec 24, 2020
5 min

Audit Objectives - What are your goals for 2021?

6 goals to help your audit team succeed in the new year 2020 has thrown a lot of challenges at audit teams, but overall, teams have stepped up to the challenge and proven their worth. Internal Audit's position within a business has shown just how important we are, and given some real exposure to the knowledge contained in our team. But with all this good work done in 2020, audit teams may have their own challenges going into 2021. Re-setting the annual plan for 2021, focusing

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Applying Agile to your Annual Planning process

My Audit Spot

Nov 25, 2020
5 min

Applying Agile to your Annual Planning process

With the impact of COVID, and more generally, a change in the way we work, a traditional approach to annual planning may not be possible. Audit teams which are stretched as a result of the havoc created by the pandemic and the need for businesses to react swiftly, may be short on time for their annual planning. Annual planning is a critical activity which must be performed each year. Not only does it set the agenda of audit activity for the year to come, but it also ensures w

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2021 Internal Audit Hot Topic and Focus Areas

My Audit Spot

Nov 20, 2020
3 min

2021 Internal Audit Hot Topic and Focus Areas

A summary from across the web of 2021's Internal Audit Hot Topic's, Focus Area's and Risk Priorities. We have searched across the web; through each of the Big 4's websites, through the IIA, and across thought leadership sites to find out what they all consider to be the top risk / focus areas for Internal Audit going into 2021. These guys are generally on the mark. Last year, the IIA Risk in Focus report said business continuity was one key focus area for Head's of Audit goin

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Covid and your Internal Audit Annual Plan

My Audit Spot

Oct 26, 2020
3 min

Covid and your Internal Audit Annual Plan

Top 5 things to consider when building your Internal Audit Annual Plan as a result of COVID-19 2020 has been a year for the history books and something which we will all remember for a long time to come. However 2020 isn't over, and Covid looks like it could well be joining us in 2021, meaning the ride isn't over yet. This also means, audit needs to plan appropriately for 2021. With most audit department's (who run to a calendar year), likely holding stakeholder discussions a

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My Audit Spot

Oct 19, 2020
2 min

Internal Audit Strategy

Why you should have a strategy for your Internal Audit department and how to write one Similar to an organisation's own strategy, a strategy for an internal audit department is beneficial for detailing the objectives of the audit department and how we are going to get there. An Internal Audit strategy will also help shows how the department's activities link to the wider objectives and strategy of the organisation. There is no specific standard requiring an Internal Audit Str

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My Audit Spot

Sep 27, 2020
4 min

Internal Audit Manual Template

Whilst each audit department should abide by the requirements as set out in the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF), it's the audit manual which spells out specifically how the audit team will uphold these standards. In this post, we're going to explain what an internal audit manual is, what it contains, why you need one, and how to successfully implement a manual into your audit team. Throughout this post, we're going to demonstrate various aspects of the a

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My Audit Spot

Jul 29, 2020
2 min

Three Lines Model

IIA updates defense model On the 20th July, The Institute of Internal Auditors released its updated Three Lines of Defense Model. The new three lines model is essentially an updated version for the well known and understood four line model. The change in the model is to not only simplify processes, but also better reflect current business arrangements and to emphasise more active forms of risk management and governance that go beyond merely defensive moves by the internal aud

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Internal Audit Self Assessment Checklist

My Audit Spot

Jul 27, 2020
5 min

Internal Audit Self Assessment Checklist

Performing a periodic self assessment as part of your Quality Assurance Improvement Program The International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Standards) set the mandatory requirements for every Internal Audit function. As part of the Standards, there is a key component which requires audit functions to establish a Quality Assurance Improvement Program (QAIP). This post will focus only on how to develop and perform an Internal Audit Self Assessmen

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My Audit Spot

Jun 29, 2020
4 min

Best Way to Run a Cybersecurity Audit

Standalone standard risk assessments are not enough to formulate and maintain a robust security strategy to protect your company’s digital assets. Cyber self-audits are critical for your business as they allow you to set parameters and goals. They also enable you to: Establish your set of security standards that you can roll out across the business. Enforce regulations and industry best practices. Determine the state of your cybersecurity and how to improve your processes. Ov

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My Audit Spot

Jun 23, 2020
2 min

Timesheet and Reporting Template

Timesheets, whilst painful, can offer a lot of benefits. We spoke about these benefits in a recent blog post (Time for timesheets). Whilst they also have a number of benefits, we need to be careful on how we introduce timesheets back into an audit team, particularly for those audit teams who have not previously had timesheets. A good timesheet system can also be expensive. Whilst there are specific tools available, and teams can even purchase add on's such as Timesheet for Mi

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My Audit Spot

Jun 23, 2020
2 min

Time for timesheets

Why your internal audit team should be completing weekly timesheets Don't get me wrong. I hate timesheets as much as the next guy. It ruins your Friday, as you're ready you go home and then all of a sudden you get that pesky reminder email and next thing you know, your 15 minute early mark is all of a sudden taken away as you're stuck in the office recalling everything you did over the last week. It's annoying, frustrating and also worrying (are you going to get caught for t

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My Audit Spot

Jun 4, 2020
3 min

The power of referencing

Why we need to ensure we reference our audit files and workpapers well It might seem like such a basic concept, but too often do we see audit teams and auditor forego referencing their audit files and their workpapers. It only takes a few minutes to do, but can save a world of problems later on. What is referencing? Referencing is a bit like indexing. Each audit file will be given a unique ID or number. For instance, an audit in 2020 for Business Continuity may be given the r

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My Audit Spot

Jun 2, 2020
2 min

Internal Audit Newsletter

Promoting the work of Internal Audit and raising awareness of who we are can help the business (and the audit function) in may ways. Whilst a newsletter may seem old school and extra admin on our already busy schedules, it can in fact pay dividends if done well. There are many formats which an Internal Audit Newsletter can take. We have developed ours in Microsoft Word, meaning it can then be either turned into a PDF and distributed across the business, uploaded to an intrane

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My Audit Spot

May 13, 2020
4 min

Business Continuity Lessons Learnt

10 key questions to ask about your business resilience For some it's still a long way off, but for others, a return back to a normal life is starting to re-appear. Whilst the UK's coronavirus lock down has been extended, others such as China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, are beginning to ease restrictions and allow businesses to return somewhat back to normal. Whilst this is great news, and no doubt something businesses and employees alike are keen for, there are a

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Blog

Audit news, opinions and template info

Vendor Management Audit Work Program

Internal Audit Walkthroughs

Internal Audit Training

How much of a say should they really have?

Audit Committee Reporting

Annual Plan Dashboard and Resource Allocator

Audit Objectives - What are your goals for 2021?

Applying Agile to your Annual Planning process

2021 Internal Audit Hot Topic and Focus Areas

Covid and your Internal Audit Annual Plan

Internal Audit Strategy

Internal Audit Manual Template

Three Lines Model

Internal Audit Self Assessment Checklist

Best Way to Run a Cybersecurity Audit

Timesheet and Reporting Template

Time for timesheets

The power of referencing

Internal Audit Newsletter

Business Continuity Lessons Learnt

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