The objective of any report is to provide important information to management in the area reviewed. It represents the result of weeks of reviews, analyses, interviews, and discussions. The quality of that report will have an impact on how well the report is understood and accepted. A report with the best information and recommendations may not be acted upon if the report is poorly written and hard to understand. Poor quality reports can result in management:
- Misunderstanding the information and making the wrong decisions
- Getting too little information and making poor decisions
- Getting too much information and wasting valuable time in making decisions
Ideally, the audit report should provide management with enough information to understand:
- What was done in the audit
- What was found in the audit
- What management should do to address the audit concerns