Audit control is the process of assuring companies aims and objectives are achieved in functional efficiency and effectiveness. It involves financial reporting and compliance with laws, regulations, and policies.
So why is audit control necessary? It is necessary to trace discrepancies between operational processes and what they are meant to do. Once found, auditors advise the management on implementing policies that would improve functionality.
Without audit control, they would be no way to ensure that an organizations risk management, internal control processes and governance run smoothly.
Advantages of Automating Audit Control
1. Saves You Time and Money
Working with an Approval Routing and Workflow tool for audit control lets auditors link and track their source data when reporting unlike manual audit and financial reporting which has more error and takes more time.
Since automated audit control is fast and efficient, you will not need more human resource to cover overtime when the workflow is too much. This saves you money.
2. Improves Efficiency
When financial reports, data analytics and business processes are efficiently performed, the cycle time of task performance is significantly reduced leaving individuals to focus on ‘core’ functions of their job. This greatly improves the overall performance of employees and the organization as a whole.
3. Reduces Risks
Manual audit control is likely to have errors that would affect the company’s finances. Unlike manual auditing, implementing an Approval Routing solution considerably improves visibility and control. It offers transparency and consistency as all the input data is linked to the source of the data immediately.
4. Increases Regulatory Compliance
Automated audit control reduces the risk of error and fraud. This is done by introducing configurable approval routing and workflow rules to control the flow of business processes such as:
- PO Requisitions
- Supplier Invoice Reconciliation
- Customer Sales Quotes
- Financial Requests
- Inventory Requests
- Production Requests
- Shipping Requests
Based on established rules, an approval routing and workflow solution determines the individual, or group of individuals engaged in a business process. Following these protocols offers full visibility and accountability thereby achieving appropriate corporate controls and auditability.
5. Reduces Turnaround Time
Reports are generated quickly when you automate audit control. This gives an internal auditor more time to analyze and evaluate the final report, reducing turnaround time.
The role of business process automation in an annual risk assessment process is to help organizations identify opportunities that come with it and keep their books clean with the help of internal auditors.
Steps Taken When Implementing Automated Audit Control
Below are some steps taken when implementing automated audit control
- Definition of audit objectives
- Announcement of the audit
- Entrance meeting of the audit
- Fieldwork analyzing risk levels
- Review and communication of report
- Audit exit meeting
- Creating the audit report
The beauty of automated audit control is that the primary user can share all these steps with the rest of the team.
Impact of Business Process Automation in the Realm of Internal Audits.
Over time, the fruits born by automation have been evident. Some include:
1. Managing Scarce Resources
By replacing manual activities with automation, companies freed up employees and distributed them into effective teams. They are thus in a position to do more with less; even when the budget is limited.
2. Business Value
Using automated audit controls has seen companies increase their frequency of testing and have shifted to systems that provide more timely insights. This has seen companies improve their cycle, enabling proactive insights and analytics in reporting.
3. Efficiency and Reduced Costs
Cutting down manual audit control has significantly saved companies money. Organizations using automation are upwards of 90% more efficient than their manual auditing counterparts.
By and large, you stand to gain by automating your audit control. Invest in business automation for better results in your company’s audit control.
How can Approval Routing and Workflow of your Business Processes help facilitate Audit Control ?
Contact us at ISS Group to learn more about improving your business processes with Data-Driven Approval Routing and Workflow and how to integrate this technology in your organization today.
Sources:
- Tufts University: https://sites.tufts.edu/amas/internal-audit/audit-process/
