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The relationship building in the audit report phase could be considered the pinnacle of the audit and business partner relationship due to the impact of the interaction between the two groups during this final phase of the audit. Think about how much back-and-forth there can be when the draft report is being created. The audit status memo that was mentioned previously in this chapter, along with the benefits it has, not only in the development of the client relationship but also in the report generation process, can and will be relied on heavily to effectively support the final audit product. For the audit report to truly be value-added, it must include specific, tangible, and data-supported issues identified by audit and validated by business personnel. The process of acquiring the data and verifying the veracity of the included report issues relies on a productive and amicable relationship between the auditors and the business team. In this situation, the strength of the relationship drives a more efficient audit process and a collaborative effort to generate the draft audit report as well as the final product to be distributed to the executive team. With a strong relationship, the report generation discussion will be based on agreed-upon data and facts and not subjective opinions and perspectives.

Over the past three decades of keynote addresses, conference workshops, and training events all over the world, I have always stated one undisputable fact about myself and my experience being an internal auditor: I was never the smartest or best auditor on the team, but I focused on building my business knowledge, observing successful audit and business personnel, executing assigned work to the best of my ability, and learning from my mistakes. In the end, however, I always credited my success of going from a staff auditor to a vice president of audit and facilitating training for over 30 years to my ability to communicate and build relationships both inside and outside of audit. Successful relationships will provide you with benefits ranging from learning from co-workers to successful partnerships with business unit personnel to add value. Use relationships to not only further your personal development, but also positively impact the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes you encounter throughout your career.