An audit is a work of analysis and control of a process within a service, a department or a company. It can be carried out on a specific area, such as the accounting and financial audit, or on a general aspect such as the quality audit or the annual accounts audit... Before carrying out an audit, there are a certain number of elements to prepare. Discover the details here.
The importance of the repository
The frame of reference is the basis of any audit work. It is the set of laws, texts, regulations, procedures, and official documents that will serve as guidance. The entity conducting the audit, called the "auditor", may be external to the company or an internal team. The department or company where the audit is conducted is called the "auditee". All information and questions that the auditor will ask the auditee should be taken from these documents. If the auditor is external to the company, then he must obtain all the reference documents that the auditee has: procedures, memos, reports, dashboards, internal regulations, etc. If he is internal, he can always ask the auditee for documents that he does not have. It is therefore essential to have the reference material to prepare an audit.
Drawing up the audit plan
The audit plan is a document that includes the audit objective(s), information on the identity, as well as detailed information on the audit process. Among the information to be known is the scope of the audit based on the standard. The auditor must not delve into an area that is not defined in the standard. Then the date and duration of the audit. The auditor must comply with the duration he has planned in the audit plan. He must respect the timing to the second. Then, the places where the audit will take place must be precise. And finally, the different stages of the plan and the methodology. In this part, the auditor briefly explains the methods and techniques he will apply during the audit (sampling, proof, etc.).
The objectives of an audit
Contrary to what many people think, the objective of an audit is not to look for deviations. Its objective is to ensure that the auditee complies with the standard. Everything that the auditor will do during the audit will be to look for evidence of compliance. In case of deviation, a corrective measure must be applied and will be subject to a subsequent verification. In general, the auditor makes the audit plan available to the auditee before the audit begins.