How to Have Audit Analytics That Works — Part 2

4. Use data analytics consistently — opportunities exist for data analysis in all or, at the very least, most of your audits. Close to 100% of the cases these days, an information system supports the process you are auditing. It can provide data, and therefore, performing data analysis is possible.

5. Involve the business side — the outcome of every audit is a set of findings and recommendations that need to be actioned by a business area. Thus, it pays to involve the business side when developing analytic routines to be used in the audit. Also, you should do this as early as realistically possible.

By working with the business, the credibility of analytics-based findings will increase, and the resistance to audit findings will decrease significantly. As an aside, this will also help with the acceptance of the draft and final audit reports.

6. Explain plainly how the audit team will use analytics — to get everyone on board, you need to clearly show how analytics will improve the current situation and what benefits it will bring. A simple way to do this is to provide a high-level diagram of the analytics process, several examples of the output and a list of 3–5 tangible and intangible benefits. You can find an example of a tangible benefit below.

To be continued in Part 3.

These are only some suggestions for successfully using data analysis in audit work. During my audit and analytics career, I have gained significant experience using data to achieve better organisational outcomes.

If you want to know more, contact me on LinkedIn, send me a WhatsApp message at +61 433 87 57 57 or email me at mario.bojilov@mbs-academy.com.au.