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Internal Auditing Best Practices
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focus on valuable improvement recommendations, the internal auditor creates an
entirely different image within the corporation of being a helpful knowledge
worker who can make local managers look like stars. This is a particularly impor-
tant change in focus if the internal auditor can either make additional recommen-
dations in regard to implementation steps for process improvements or bring the
local manager in contact with the in-house expert who has already completed an
implementation. By taking this approach, one can not only be the source of ideas,
but also assist in carrying them out in an indirect manner.
Though control reviews are still necessary to some extent in all organizations,
taking this different view of the position can result in business unit managers begging
the internal audit manager for more staff time to assist them with a variety of tasks.

Cost: Installation time:

15–4 TRACK AUDIT RESULTS THROUGH
BUSINESS UNIT SURVEYS
Though auditors must sometimes issue adverse opinions about the state of
process controls at a corporate business unit, this does not lead to long-lasting or
friendly relations with those business units, which has ramifications in terms of
cooperation from the business units when follow-up audits are conducted at a
later date.
Some of these adversarial circumstances can be avoided through the use of
business unit surveys in which the unit managers are given the opportunity to
review audit performance in terms of their perceived relevance, value of recom-
mendations made, accuracy of audit findings, and so on. If a survey results in
excessively poor scores, the internal audit manager can meet with the unit man-
ager to gain clarification about the issues, which may result in steps to improve
auditing goals, processes, or staffing. By continually obtaining survey results and
acting upon them, the internal audit department can align its mission more
closely with that of the business units, resulting in greater value to the business
units. This approach can also be used as an ancillary rating measure for internal
audit staff performance, as well as a method for determining which unit man-
agers need to be dealt with more carefully during upcoming audits.
The results of these surveys should be stored and tracked on a trend line for
several years to gain some idea of the perceived level of performance by the
department. The survey database can also be sorted by audit team, business unit,
and type of audit program conducted, to see if issues continually arise in any of
these three areas that require corrective action.
Cost: Installation time: