 Keywords: audit program, audit service performance, value-added contributions.
An audit program must evaluate its effectiveness in the company to remain accountable for continuous improvement and general program objectives. While this may be routine for a sales or marketing department, it may be a more modern concept for the audit program. There are three ways to monitor program effectiveness:
-
Auditor performance.
-
Audit service performance.
-
Value-added contributions.
Auditor performance assesses the competency of individual auditors as well as the consistency between them. To apply the measurement, management should:
-
Observe auditor performance during an audit.
-
Review customer performance evaluations.
-
Review audit deliverables.
-
Employ an independent auditor to evaluate auditor techniques.
-
Appraise general auditor credentials.
Audit service performance determines how the audit program meets customer expectations. Audit program management should:
-
Monitor audit related loss of customer time and/or resources.
-
Monitor contract term fulfillment
-
Monitor quality of audit deliverables, including audit reports.
-
Collect performance evaluation form audit customers
-
Facilitate focus groups to gather direct customer feedback.
-
Employ an independent auditor to audit the audit program.
-
Monitor the number and severity of external audits performed in the audit organization.
Value-added contributions determine how the audit program improves the organization’s business performance. To apply the measurement, management should:
-
Compare planned completion of corrective action to actual completion.
-
Plot the corrective action from the initial performance level through the stated performance goal.
-
Evaluate completed corrective action:
-
Determine the degree to which planned corrective action is effective the first time.
-
Identify the number of “recycled” corrective actions that didn’t address root causes the first time.
-
Identify the number of repeat problems due to the same cause.
-
Determine the benefit of corrective action.
|
