Canadian Government Executive - Volume 23 - Issue 03
18 / Canadian Government Executive // March/April 2017 Audit Critical Decisions When Designing a Multi-Year Audit Plan John Reed I n today’s world of heightened focus on good governance and accountabil- ity in the public sector, few would dispute that legislative and internal audits play an indispensable role. But how exactly do auditors choose the subject matters they look at? The “audit uni- verse” – the array of departments, agencies, policies, and programs they are mandated to audit – is seemingly unlimited. Since audi- tors can’t possibly look at everything, choices among competing topics must be made. In fact, few decisions are more impor- tant for auditors than the topics to be audited, how they are chosen, and their sequence. These decisions affect the cred- ibility, transparency, and value of the audit organization, and, ultimately, the impact on improving delivery of public services. And yet, there isn’t much guidance avail- able for audit organizations to consult. To help, the CCAF-FCVI has published its most recent Discussion Paper, Approaches to Audit Selection and Multi-Year Planning . CCAF is a premier Canadian research and education foundation dedicated to public sector performance auditing, governance and accountability. This Discussion Paper shares practices, experiences, and tips from audit offices from 15 jurisdictions, in Canada and internationally, as it leads us- ers through the key decisions to be made when designing a process for audit selec- tion and multi-year planning. Program managers and government executives will also find it helpful to un- derstand how audit organizations choose In fact, few decisions are more important for auditors than the topics to be audited, how they are chosen, and their sequence. These decisions affect the credibility, transparency, and value of the audit organization, and, ultimately, the impact on improving delivery of public services. their topics. Why? Because their perspec- tives and insights are important to the au- dit selection process. CCAF Associate Neil Maxwell, the lead author of the paper, said, “As audit organizations aim to add value and optimize their selection of audit topics, it is an opportunity to continuously improve their outreach to stakeholders. This outreach helps audit organizations to have the information they need to choose audits that are more relevant and better meet public expectations.” A decision support framework Through this research project, CCAF learned about many great practices being used in the audit community. But there re- ally is no single best practice. Our aim is to help audit organizations better under- stand the options available to them and decide on the approach that best suits their needs and circumstances. The Discussion Paper sets out a deci- sion support framework that guides users through the key questions that should be considered. It is organized by the four phases of the audit selection and multi-year planning process (see figure 1). For each phase, the paper outlines the actions to take and the key questions to ask when making design decisions—44 questions in all. For each question, it presents the range of options and important considerations for decid- ing among them. Throughout, the paper shares tips and examples based on the ex- periences of audit offices of different sizes and natures. Highlighted below are the questions and decisions that have the greatest impact on an audit organization’s work, organized phase by phase. In Phase 1 – Setting Overall Direction – the audit organization sets the direction
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