Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition

Total Impact of Best Practices on the Internal Auditing Function

Many of the best practices discussed in this chapter are noted in Exhibit 15.2, where best practices are clustered into those occurring prior to the commencement of an audit and those occurring during or after it. Best practices related to staffing, workflow management, or audit staffing are not included.

Exhibit 15.2. Impact of Best Practices on the Internal Auditing Function

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In the exhibit, it is evident that a considerable amount of work can be completed in advance, to determine the need for control assessments, as well as to provide audit teams with as much information as possible about their prospective audits. A great many changes are advocated during the audit, such as giving controls and self-audit training to the staff and managers of business units, and issuing process improvement recommendations to unit managers. Subsequent to the audit, the tracking of audit survey results can be used to revise the planning and staffing for future audits.