Internal Audit Reports Post
Sarbanes-Oxley
A Guide to Process Driven Reporting
By Susan M. Switzer
In order to be effective and useful, internal audit reports, the primary mode of communication for auditors, need to be carefully organized, crisply written, and able to connect the financial dots in order to relate specialized chunks of information to each other, to any potential risk, and to the company’s overall operations and governance.
Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks for internal auditors is communicating auditing findings, or in other words writing the audit report. Recent financial scandals such as Enron and Worldcom have made audit reports even more important. This book provides an authoritative guide for creating effective, process-based reports for internal auditors. The author includes checklists, samples, examples, template, exercises and more.
The first section covers the basics including what to say, IIA and AICPA standards, principles of readability, dealing with IT and more. The second section covers the report writing process and how it integrates with the audit process. There are sample templates that will help auditors develop audit reports. This section also discusses best practices as they relate to reporting after Sarbanes-Oxley. Areas such as time-saving techniques, grammar and punctuation are covered that enhance communication. The final section talks about global issues on reporting including tone, culture, and analyzing the needs of multiple audiences. There is an appendix with exercises on finding flaws in writing.
Books on the report writing are few and far between but much needed by auditors. This book reinforces the basic principles of report writing as well as including tools and techniques to create effective audit reports. Newly hired auditors will find the necessary guidance while experienced auditors will discover a refresher on how to make the process of report writing more efficient and effective. The bottom line is that auditors are evaluated based on their final work product; the audit report. Internal Audit Reports Post Sarbanes-Oxley is the perfect addition to your internal audit department professional library.