In recent years, the audit community embraced electronic working papers for collaboration, but this led to the challenge of dark data. To address this issue, leveraging the best audit management software becomes crucial for efficient search, reference, analysis, export, reporting, and mobile accessibility.
Fortunately, audit management software can help.
Intuitive audit management software can access and analyse 100% of audit data — no matter how dark it may seem — and prove the true value of the audit function in the process. Here are eight more ways audit management software can enhance your approach to audits.
1. It improves the efficiency of audit fieldwork
Audit management software consolidates everything you need in one centralised location. This can boost your productivity because you’ll have clear structure around audit procedures to efficiently guide staff, avoid confusion and focus only on the most important insights.
Since the software can shorten the time it takes to conduct audits, you’ll have more time to collaborate with your team, prioritise audits by risk level and create more value for your organisation.
2. It creates consistency between audits
Documents lack structure, which means your teams could follow different approaches across different audits. When you shift audit work out of documents and into audit software, you’ll instantly have a structured methodology that your teams can easily follow.
This creates a comprehensive view of all audits that your team can lean on to pursue value-added work while you consistently report up to your executives.
3. It elevates the quality of audit insights
Organisation is key. A solid audit structure makes data usable because you can sort and analyse it, no matter how many data points you’re working with.
Advanced audit software can report on and analyse audit information across audit projects and teams, opening up higher-quality, higher-level and deeper root-cause insights. These insights will put your organisation on a path toward data-driven, more strategic decision-making.
4. It increases the speed of insight delivery
Stop waiting for quarterly or semiannual audit packages to compile and deliver results. With audit management software, you can assess your organisation in real time. Highlight revenue opportunities to the audit committee, executives, and leaders, showcasing your audit team’s value for the organisation.
5. It enhances the ability to present high-impact reporting
Effective reporting is all about telling an impactful story. Audit management software offers interactive dashboards for presenting insights, eliminating the need for data-laden, manually compiled reports.
Utilise audit management software to highlight valuable insights, enabling executives to swiftly identify and act on critical learnings.
6. It makes audit roll-forward easier and less invasive
Conducting a manual audit can feel tedious — but it doesn’t have to be. Standard in many audit software platforms, one-click roll forwards update links without entering documents individually. This frees up time for in-depth analysis and presenting findings to the board and audit committee.
7. It enhances audit automation
Take an “edit once, updated everywhere” approach. Audit software automates key information updates, eliminating manual searches for outdated details, reducing the risk of oversight. You can also automate your audit reports and the cloning, roll forward and reuse of audit work. Get off the hamster wheel and, instead, set up audits and reporting once. Then let the data roll in on repeat.
8. It helps with administrative and IT-related burdens
Audits aren’t all analysing and reporting. There are also serious administrative and IT burdens that demand time and, if mishandled, pose significant risks. The right audit management software can minimise technical issues associated with PC installations and software upgrades, ensure data is both exportable and transferable, as well as make it accessible on any device.
