A Simple Test For Your Internal Audit Department
by Peter Osterio, March 2005
Try this simple test to determine how effective your internal audit department is, especially if your company is in a cost reduction mode in order to compete. Add up the number of audit report recommendations your team has made to eliminate over control and reduce excessive cost. If the answer is zero, or every audit report has recommendations to add additional controls, your internal audit department is strategically positioning itself on the wrong side of business realities. Sadly, traditional internal control and internal audit approaches are unable to deal with over control situations. They are derived from the government mandated, public accounting approach that is based on billable hours. Billable hours by definition adds cost. There is no basis on which to reduce costs. Companies must reduce costs to survive in the current marketplace.
For a second test, look at every audit report finding and recommendation and put the words "So What?" next to each one. Is there a clear linkage between a recommendation to improve controls (increase costs) and a specific business objective? Is there a clear linkage between the amount and cost of the recommended control and amount (limits) of risk that Governance level of the company is prepared to take?
If not, there is a very real chance that the audit department is working on the basis of either "something went wrong, therefore, we need a control" or is simply following a checklist developed by some outside organization. The problem is that the people who produce the outside checklists are not responsible for your company's survival in the marketplace. Making control recommendations based on something went wrong..."telegraphs" how disconnected the audit function is from the realities of the business world. Regardless of the quantity and quality of resources that a company has, things will always go wrong (risks) in the ultra competitive, constantly changing business world that we live in.
Be aware of audit groups that claim that they do not have to consider the business objectives. Their argument is that the reality of the business world is management's problem, not internal audit's and that audit is independent. This is silly. Audit is an overhead cost and like all other overhead costs must conduct all its activities being cognizant of the realities of the market place the company competes in.
Our Risk Based Integrated AuditTM approach is specifically designed to work within the above realities of the business world. |