Audits provide companies with a review of their business or financial operations. An operational audit focuses more on the processes or activities a company uses to complete business tasks. Business owners and managers use these audits to ensure employees and processes follow the company’s standard operating procedures. An audit on a company’s management information system presents a company with how well each process gathers and disseminates information to owners and managers. This system provides support for managerial decisions.

Things You Will Need

  • Company manuals

  • Clients

  • Audit procedures

Meet with company management. Auditors will usually meet with a company’s management team to learn and discuss the company’s management information system. Auditors will also request written documents or manuals that provide information on the company’s operating procedures.

Create an audit plan. An audit plan includes the audit scope, number of processes to review, sampling process for prepared information and the length of the fieldwork process. Because a management information system can be wide ranging system, an audit plan boils it down to the most essential processes.

Conduct fieldwork. Fieldwork is the main portion of an audit. Auditors will observe the completion of processes in the management information system, interview employees who complete tasks and review information against the company’s operating procedures, industry standards or government regulations.

Schedule a follow-up meeting with company management. A follow-up meeting allows auditors to discuss their finding with owners and managers. Auditors will note variations from operating procedures and the inaccuracies that have or can result. For external audits, auditors will release a formal audit opinion on the company’s management information system.

Tip

Creating an effective audit plan is an essential part of the auditing process. The plan must contain enough detail that outlines the specifics steps to follow during the fieldwork phase so the audit does not drag on too long.

Warning

Auditors must be careful to not provide too many suggestions or additional commentary about a company’s operational systems. This can violate the independence and objectivity of auditors during the review process.