The System Audit Process (From Planning to Reporting and Follow-up)

A system audit plan (システム監査計画) sets out the audit's purpose, scope, schedule, assigned staff and so on before the investigation begins.

An audit starts with drawing up the plan, and the investigation that follows proceeds according to it. Carrying out the audit can be split, for example, into the preliminary investigation, which gives an overview of the target, the main investigation, which gathers evidence in earnest, and the evaluation and conclusion, which settles the opinion from those results.

AnalogyIt is like a home inspection company that settles which rooms to check and which day to visit before showing up. With the scope and order fixed, you are less likely to miss anything or do the same work twice.

How to rememberTo plan is to map things out in advance: before moving, you map out where to look and how far.

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Audit evidence (監査証拠) is the records, documents and explanations an auditor obtains as the basis for evaluations and conclusions.

Evidence comes from materials prepared by the audited department, interviews with the people involved, records kept in the system and similar sources. Unless the evidence is sufficient in both quantity and quality, the audit opinion carries no weight.

AnalogyIt is like the documentary evidence that supports a court ruling. A conclusion is accepted only when there is a record you can show, not just an impression.

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System audit techniques (システム監査技法) are the methods of examination, taken together, that an auditor uses to obtain audit evidence.

Examples include the checklist method, which asks people to answer a prepared list of items to confirm, and the reconciliation and matching method, which compares records against one another. Computer-assisted audit techniques (CAAT), which examine data by computer, are another of these techniques.

AnalogyIt is like a doctor choosing between asking questions, a physical examination and a blood test. Picking the method that fits what you need to know gives you solid material.

How to rememberA technique is a way of doing something, not a thing you end up holding: the evidence is what the technique produces.

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Audit working papers (監査調書) are the record in which the auditor writes down the procedures performed, the evidence obtained and the judgments drawn from it.

With working papers, someone else can later trace which evidence led to which conclusion. The opinion written in the report must be backed by what these papers record.

AnalogyIt is like a notebook kept while testing a recipe, noting amounts, steps and tasting impressions as you go. Reading it later shows why you settled on that flavor.

How to rememberWorking papers are, as the name says, papers you build up while working, keeping everything from procedures to judgments in order.

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A system audit report (システム監査報告書) is the document that sums up the audit results and opinion and is submitted to the audit client.

The auditor writes the report, and the opinion in it must be backed by the evidence kept in the working papers. When deficiencies are found, the report points them out and also includes improvement proposals that show how to fix them.

AnalogyIt is like the inspection report a building inspection firm hands to the client. It puts the conclusion and the points to fix in a form the client can read and act on.

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An improvement proposal (改善提案) is the auditor's advice and recommendation on how to fix a deficiency found during the audit.

Improvement proposals appear in the system audit report and are delivered together with the findings on deficiencies. A finding states the fact of a deficiency, while a proposal points the way to correcting it.

AnalogyIt is like a building inspection firm adding repair methods to the results it hands the owner. The actual repair work is done by someone else, using those methods as a guide.

How to rememberTo propose is to put something forward: alongside each deficiency found, the auditor puts forward a way to fix it.

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Follow-up (フォローアップ) is the stage after reporting in which the auditor checks how far the improvement proposals have been carried out and gives guidance to move the improvements forward.

An audit does not end with handing in the report, since it only has an effect once improvements are actually made. After reporting, the auditor keeps track of how the improvements are progressing and evaluates the results.

AnalogyIt is like a dentist who teaches you how to brush and then checks at the next visit whether your gums have improved.

How to rememberTo follow up is to go after something: you go after the report and see what happened next.

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