Document Audit Activities and Findings

Conduct the Audit

Once the opening meeting is completed and it is time to start the first meeting with the Auditee, arrive and meet the executive Auditee. This internal representative will be assigned to the assigned business unit manager.

Document Audit Activities and Findings

Working Papers are documentary evidence obtained from the Auditees. The content of the papers is analyzed so as to achieve audit conclusions. Audit working papers provide the basis for the findings and audit recommendations to be reported.

Audit working papers are a key part of the evidence used by Auditors in arriving at the BCM Audit conclusions and recommendations.

Workpaper Reference

This is the content of a typical set of working papers, or sometimes referred to in short as workpaper.

Table of Content for Workpaper

Review and Analyze Audit Findings

This chapter outlines the methods of analysis that an Auditor can use to arrive at a well-founded audit opinion. As an Auditor, the understanding and review of this chapter will allow one to evaluate the audit findings and to avoid time-consuming details when reviewing the BCM Planning Methodology. The steps to be taken are to:

• Visualize the Auditee’s narrative.
• Group the interviewee's narrative by BCM area (The seven-phase within the BCM Planning Methodology).
• Identify gaps in the audit plan that have not been addressed in interviews.
• Request clarification as appropriate to complete the data gathering process

Auditors can find a list of commonly overlooked areas (Appendix 8) as a reference guide. The Auditor is strongly recommended to categorize the findings using the phases within the BCM Planning Methodology.

Keep Auditees Informed

In addition to practices and behaviours, managing the Client or Auditees is a constant demonstration of openness and trust. These are some of the approaches to achieve that goal:

• Review findings regularly with Auditees.
• Inform Auditee before any rumours about your observations reach them.
• Keep the findings and recommendations constructive.
• Demonstrate professionalism throughout the audit.
• Locate and talk to all the right people and include the appropriate personnel.
• Be precise, attentive and responsive.
• Create rapport with Clients

BCM Audit Areas

One approach for identifying areas to audit is to use the BCM Planning Methodology and divide each phase according to individual BCM audit areas.  Click the right icon for more explanation.

In a typical BCM audit, each phase of the BCM Planning Methodology can be used as a BCM area for audit. The detailed information for each phase can be found in the BCM book series.

To read more, refer to the table is as shown below.

Cross Referencing of Content of BCM Planning Methodology with BCM Book Series.

Manage Administrative Overheads

Having highlighted the audit fieldwork process, one challenge commonly faced by the Auditor is the failure to take into account the administrative overhead, logistics overhead and additional time buffers for clarification of information gathered. The latter is often under-estimated as a significant percentage of audit time will have to be allotted to "housekeeping" tasks such as status meetings or interim reporting to stakeholders.

Summary

The effective and efficient execution of a BCM Audit Fieldwork is the result of the adoption of the audit plan during the execution of the BCM Audit. The careful evaluation of findings and clear formulation of recommendations must be strictly adhered to at this stage.

Resource

Goh, M. H. (2016). A Manager's Guide to Auditing and Reviewing Your Business Continuity Management Program. Business Continuity Management Series (2nd ed.). Singapore: GMH Pte Ltd.

Extracted from "Conduct the Audit"

Singapore Government Funding for BCM-8530 Course

The next section applied to Singaporean and Singapore permanent residents.  Click the button "Government Funding Available" to find out more about the funding that is available from the Singapore government.  This includes the CITREP+, SkillsFuture Credit and UTAP.

Find out more about Blended Learning BCM-8530 [BL-A-5] & BCM-8030 [BL-A-3]