Audit management that clings to regimented audit plans and programs, limit the creative thought processes that are essential to a vibrant audit function. Auditors must be free to experiment with new techniques on every audit. They must learn to adapt audit processes during the audit so they can find new ways to achieve their audit assurance in less time. Auditors need to innovate. They should also look in new holes and find some new rocks.
Management is tired of reading about the same audit issues in report after report.
Management needs to know what they do not already know. The use of manual audit techniques often forces auditors to use sampling to determine if a process is in control. While this is an excellent external audit tool, business managers need more precise information that focuses on the entire population. When I see phrases in audit reports like based on our limited testing we conclude or our sample shows that there are significant errors in the process . I wonder if the audit team did enough work.