Whether you are writing an audit report for a small business establishment or for a big corporation, remember that it all meets at one point: reliability. Recent research has found that 61 percent of the audits thoroughly fulfilled the standards of professional auditing or had only minimal defects under the said standards. Hence, we provide you guidelines in writing a perfect internal audit report.
1. Make an Outline
Before anything else, assure that you have understood the the different kinds of audit reports and its goals. In that case, you can avoid committing mistakes. Check the results of the auditing, then create a good outline based on what you have read and you will need. With that being said, you can work smoothly and orderly.
2. Start Writing the Basics
There are some points that you need to consider in writing your management report such as providing a good perspective to the readers, maintaining precision in the terms and words used, preventing the use of intensifiers and passive voice, applying gender-neutral terms, and using of bullet points for clarity. Take note of the said points for a better outcome. Start making your introduction to give an overview of your report, followed by the objectives to give a clear definition of your audit. Moreover, you must acquire knowledge about the 5 C's—criteria, condition, causes, consequences, corrective action and consistency—for a better result.
3. Get to the Scope and Methodology
Highlight the scope in the professional report that you are making so that the readers will know the parameters, limitations, and extent of your audit. Write the procedure afterward. Make sure that the scope and the methodology answer the following questions for an in-depth result: why was the audit administered, what was encompassed and what was not, and what was the audited time period?
4. Elaborate the Findings
Covered in this part should be the thorough finding discovered during the procedure of the audit. It should start with a short heading of the observation and then followed by a comprehensive narration. Data in numbers should be factual and must be included for validation of the observation and illumination of the effect of the finding.
5. Add Recommendations
This section contains the recommended rectifying plans to be applied so that the effect of the emphasized observations can be reduced. Also, it should be written in this part the suggestions for development and enhancement of performance so that the administration will be guided in achieving their preferred outcome. They should be specific generally, distinguish the individual who should perform action, and short and accurate. Recommendations are necessary for an impactful audit report.
6. Observe Correct Format
After writing, review your document. Make sure that you are following the adequate format before you submit it. Check if you have a cover page, memo, table of contents, and report. You can use an audit checklist. Also, inspect if the format of the mentioned parts are exact, but if not, edit it.