Increasing your audit rating by addressing open audit issues is an effective strategy for your organization. An open audit allows the audit committee to focus on the various aspects of the business and set priorities to ensure continuous success. As a manager or preparer of the audit process, you will need to show the audit committee the rationale behind your choices.

Increasing Your Audit Rating by Focusing on Open Audit Issues

Businesses have different ways to record and document daily performance. Increasing your audit rating requires an effective audit management system. Begin by addressing open audit issues. When meeting with you audit committee, provide them with all the necessary materials. If you leave out information, the findings will not be accurate.

Exact Representation of the Issues

Provide accurate findings in an audit report. An exact representation helps to calculate risks. If you provide the wrong or overstated details, the full business picture is not accurate. Overrated or understated audit ratings may greatly affect the business in the upcoming fiscal cycle.

• Provide detailed information on current risk assessments
• Show current trends affecting your business
• Use automated software to help develop accurate report documents

If an audit committee spends more time going over suspected issues, the committee may decrease your rating or continue to debate the existing rating. Providing clear findings of the audit issues will help the committee to track trends. Basing appropriate actions to address the open issues from the trends will help move the company forward.

Provide Documentation

Showing and providing the committee with accurate documentation for your findings ensures the credability of your organization. By focusing on your records, reports and generated findings, you may increase your audit rating.

• Always provide reports with up to date information
• Provide graphs and statistics for the visual use during the meeting
• Provide links to other materials that support your findings and trends

Failing to provide the right documentation at the audit meeting will decrease your internal audit quality. The result may negatively affect your audit rating.

Resolutions

With any form of issue or problem within a business, the focus must be on finding an effective solution. Addressing open issues will move the audit committee away from the problem to the resolution. Understanding all aspects of the audit report will allow the committee to move away from a rating debate.

• Reassess your current audit rating system. Is the type of system still a recommended choice for your organization? Has your company outgrown the current method?
• Focus on current issues. How are the current issues affecting the daily running of the business?
• Develop effective communication methods to convince the audit committee the nature of your findings. Are the results being represented correctly in the meeting?
• Assess risk factors and implement control options. What are the next available moves to increase the current audit rating?

Audit management is an effective strategy for increasing your audit rating. You will need to provide quality audit findings to ensure your organization is operating at the desired level of performance.  At Ernst Wintter & Associates, we are committed to offering businesses accurate and detailed audits.  If you are looking for tips on how to gather the appropriate documentation or finding an effective solution to a problem that has arisen, contact us today at  info@winttercpa.com.