Putting the Quality In Audit Reports

How well you communicate that information is critical to getting management’s acceptance of your findings and their agreement with your recommendations. A well-written audit report adds value to your clients by providing information that is:

Accurate
Objective
Clear
Concise
Constructive
Complete
Timely
In addition to audit reports, these elements can apply to all kinds of writings including:

Executive summaries
Fraud investigations
Consulting reports
Memos
General correspondence

Webinar Oct 20 2025, Monday 01:00 PM EDT 60 Minutes Basic Level Code: GRC0000232

  • Provide a review of the audit standards related to audit report quality
  • Provide a detailed review of each of the seven report quality elements:
        - Accurate
        -  Objective
        - Clear
        - Concise
        - Constructive
        - Complete
        - Timely
  • Participate in various quality report exercises

  • A review of the audit standards related to audit report quality
  • A detailed review of each of the seven report quality elements:
     - Accurate
     - Objective
     - Clear
     - Concise
     - Constructive
     - Complete
     - Timely
  • Various quality report exercises

  • Chief Audit Executives
  • Audit Directors
  • Audit Supervisors
  • Audit Managers
  • Staff Auditors
  • Government Auditors
  • Compliance Auditors
  • Internal Control Specialists
  • Public Accountants
  • Accounting Analysts
  • Business Analysts
  • Quality Control Specialists

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

JONNIE KEITH
JONNIE KEITH

Jonnie Keith has been in auditing over 40 years. He retired in 2012 as the Assistant General Manager (AGM) of Internal Audit with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in Atlanta, Ga. He served in that capacity for over 10 years and was responsible for administering the overall audit activities. At this position, he was also responsible for the review and approval of all Internal Audit correspondence including audit reports, executive summaries, internal and external correspondence, etc. Prior to that, he worked at MARTA as the Operational Audit Manager and Senior Contract Compliance Auditor. He also worked at Norfolk Southern Railway (formally Southern Railway) as a senior operational auditor and started his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as a bank examiner. Jonnie Keith received a BA degree in Economics from Clark Atlanta University (formerly Clark College).

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