Writing Effective Audit Reports

Seminar: ID# 1005025

Agenda

• Plotting the report at the beginning of fieldwork
• Methods for consistent client communication
• What an audit issue describes
• 5-step writing formula and the air: key elements in any issue

• Key differences between causes, conclusions, and evidence
• The sweet spot of supportive detail: not too much and not too little

Steps to effective root cause analysis (RCA)
• The difference between issue, symptom, and root cause
• Strategies in RCA
• When and how to engage the client in RCA
• Reporting root causes: positive vs. negative wording

• Purpose of a business risk
• Keeping common risks convincing (LIVe)
• Using action verbs to create change

• Title of an audit
• What an issue statement describes
• The 5-sentence burst
• Writing the issue statement

• Keeping recommendations SMART
• Using recommendations for issue follow-up

• Paragraphing and formatting
• Bullet lists, headings, fonts
• Passive voice
• Wordiness
• Ambiguity
• Negative wording
• Non-parallel structure
• Punctuation

• Timing Your Communication
• Title
• Body
• Closing
• Final Email Writing Tips And Exercise

• The Chicken Little Dilemma
• Connotations of Words
• Placement of Negation
• Sequence of Negation
• Relative Information
• How to Change Tone

• Instructional Design
• Graphics & Fonts
• Layering
• Using Sidelines and Flow
• Executive Summary Redesign Challenge