Читать книгу Beyond Audit - Robert L. Mainardi - Страница 16

Every audit you participate on will have challenges, but the remote audit will exacerbate simple ones into much more difficulties throughout the audit. Regardless of the audit type, the biggest challenge is availability of the client. Whether the clients like it or not, they should be a key participant in every audit due to their knowledge of the process, access and understanding of the data, system knowledge, and overall process experience.

I think many times auditors take for granted the availability of client access when executing a traditional audit. That luxury is missing during a remote audit. I know this may seem like a simple concept, but it plays a huge role when the auditor is trying to complete the planning process and is missing critical data or information to close the loop on one particular process piece. Gone is the time of getting up from your desk and finding someone in the process area to question regarding the missing information. An auditor's ability to follow up, ask qualifying questions, or retrieve missing documentation becomes much more complicated when they do not have immediate access to the business team. And there is no telling when and if your business partner is going to answer the phone to address the next question from their audit counterpart.

Another significant challenge during a remote audit will be obtaining the detailed process steps from start to finish, especially if you are auditing an area never reviewed before. Since there will be no documentation available from the previous audit (completed process map), the auditor will be responsible to obtain this process level information from their business client. Every auditor knows how difficult it is to create a process map from scratch; it takes time to review the most updated policies and procedures, examine supporting process data, understand the systems used, draft an initial narrative, and then meet with the client to clarify the understanding of the process as well as ask any outstanding questions. All these steps are necessary to develop a complete process map. In the nonremote world, you can expedite this process by sitting down and getting a walkthrough of the process with your business partner and asking clarifying question as you go along. However, in the remote audit world, it is not possible to perform a walkthrough over the phone or even in a videoconference. Trust me, it just does not work. That does not leave the auditor with many options other than to dedicated the time and effort it will take to become intimate with the policies and procedures (that you hope exist or are up to date) along with all the other data and information requirements to build a solid narrative of the process to be used to facilitate the phone discussion with the client. The more detailed the understanding of the business process, the more effective the process validation call will go with your client. This type of exercise requires excellent communication skills to ensure the auditor validates the process details and the business partner clearly understands the questions being asked. As you read on, you will see how communication skills are always at the foundation of success for any auditor in every industry.