TeamMate Audit Industry Articles

This 3rd and final part of our series on auditing culture focuses on the final 5 tips and concludes the analysis.

From identifying cultural levers to assessing alignment and key processes, part 2 of this 3-part series on conducting a cultural audit is now available.

To improve internal auditing at banks, consider these best practices, be aware of emerging risks, and understand the shifting regulatory environment. Continue reading to learn more.

In this first article of a three-part series, we review the holistic approach needed to successfully conduct a cultural audit in your organization.

Integrating data analytics into your organization’s internal audit process improves overall efficiencies and mitigates risk.

How can internal auditors provide oversight of their organizations’ cryptocurrency and blockchain usage? This overview will help get you started.

The growth of cloud technologies can help businesses gain flexibility and productivity, but internal audit teams still need to provide oversight. See how.

Internal auditors can help their organizations vet third-party vendors, making sure that proper due diligence and continued oversight is in place.

Data security is critical, and the adoption of a secure cloud solution is the way of the future for the public sector. FedRAMP plays a key role.

Some governance risks are broad in nature. Others, very narrow. This article addresses the main governance risks that should be considered.

The social element of ESG is often viewed from several perspectives to ensure all risks are captured and completely understood.

In this article, we will drill down on Environmental risk and explore how internal audit can have an impact by focusing on key risks.

State and local governments can use StateRAMP to find cloud service providers that meet cybersecurity standards. See how this program differs from FedRAMP.

Emerging tech like robotic process automation (RPA) can help internal auditors and financial services firms increase efficiency. See how RPA can be used.

Conducting internal audit risk assessments can help governments identify and stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn how you can build a stronger plan.

As business environments become more complex, auditors must anticipate and focus closely on new and emerging varieties of risk.

What types of inflation risks should internal audit focus on? From budget risks to employee and customer retention challenges, there’s a lot to examine.

What can internal auditors do to reduce ransomware risk? Learn how taking steps like conducting IT audits and leveraging internal audit management software helps.

Audit risk management processes and daily auditor actions must be completely aligned on every project every day.

Auditors in IA, government and public accounting assurance positions are considered risk experts. But are they focusing on the right risks?

Can internal auditors do anything to reduce cyber fraud risk? Learn how taking steps like reviewing internal controls and using data analytics tools can help.

How can internal audit teams incorporate ESG risk management and ESG compliance into audit plans? Here, we explore how to get started.

Using internal audit analytics is an excellent way for an audit team to identify risks and strengthen its overall audit methodology.

Purchasing internal audit software? Consider several factors beyond just pricing, such as data and analytics capabilities and reporting features.

The focus of this article is how being agile-minded helps reduce operational friction and enables smoother audit delivery.

Internal audit can help manage IT risks by conducting IT audits, reporting on cybersecurity threats, and providing ongoing risk assessments.

Continuous risk assessment can help internal audit teams in several ways, such as staying on top of new risks and improving collaboration.

Federal agencies can use FedRAMP to easily find secure cloud solutions that can help protect against cybersecurity threats and address other IT audit findings.

Many internal audit teams have struggled to find people with IT audit expertise for several years and are under increasing pressure to use more technology in their audits. New developments in technology, from AI to blockchain, adds to their concerns.

Auditors need to be accountable for delivering value (assessment of risks aligned with strategic imperatives), but require value in return (input, information, access) from their auditees, business leaders, and other stakeholders.

I am so excited about this evening! After a long wait, I am going to the new James Bond 007 movie, No Time to Die! I am making it a big deal. A group of 12 of us are going to the nice Silverspot Cinema that is amazing, with an incredible lounge area.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is a framework that has become increasingly popular in recent years. Many organizations recognize that adapting to changing socio-economic and...

Audit professionals from PwC recently teamed up with educators from the University of Pretoria (UP) in South Africa to provide an overview of incorporating data analytics into internal auditing.

Over the last few years, the use of data analytics activity in Internal Audit function has exploded. The advances we have seen in the collection and storage of data, alongside the development of...

Learn how data analytics can help internal audit teams in several ways, such as improving risk management and enhancing audit efficiency.

This series of articles has consistently argued that internal audit functions that deliver the highest value and help protect their organisations from damaging control failures are those that continue to innovate and adapt how they work.

Defining the specific internal audit initiatives on which you should target your finite change time, effort, and budget.

Delivering an audit that has the potential to be many months of work in small iterations, one- or two-week timeboxes or sprints, is a game-changer for many audit departments. Here’s why.

In order to successfully target your finite resources on changes that will really turn the performance dial and move you closer to achieving your Internal Audit Purpose, you need to develop clear functional outcomes.

How to be successful in making changes to your internal audit function and through this change how you go about auditing the business.

Five points to consider if you are just starting or considering where to focus next with a robust analytics program

Agile audit methodology allows internal audit teams to increase efficiency, improve focus, foster greater collaboration, promote meaningful communication, and become more responsive to the needs of management and the board.

Let me explain why it’s a problem being an Agile copycat or someone who imitates or adopts the behavior or practices of others. 

Being more agile-minded will help you capitalize on the collective skill and capabilities of your department – and help you become a better leader.

You are not alone. Eighty-eight percent of audit teams are either in the process or plan to make analytics a part of every audit, according to TeamMate Audit Benchmark.

As an auditor, there are specific steps I can take to increase production year-over-year, but with the help of TeamMate, becoming more efficient is made easier.

Being agile is to be adaptive, responsive, and nimble. It’s often said that being agile is the difference between being a huge super-tanker and a small speedboat when it comes to changing direction or course correction.

The choice of which tool to use can sometimes be bewildering, but TeamMate Audit Benchmark found that the Audit teams with the most penetration of data analytics are those that are leveraging multiple different tools.

The pandemic has impacted every industry, every region, and nearly every profession. Safety regulations and requirements implemented by governments worldwide, and organizations’ desire to protect their staff, suppliers, distributors, and customers.

The term Data Analytics is a generic term that means quite obviously, the analysis of data. Hence the term gets used within the world of auditing in many ways. At TeamMate we refer to data analytics, or Audit Analytics, to mean the analysis of data related to the audit.

Data analytics are about one thing—extracting actionable intelligence and valuable insights from data to provide stakeholders with a deeper understanding of their business. By capitalizing on the wealth of data organizations have available, Internal Audit can provide greater assurance across the three lines of defense and position themselves as a trusted partner.

Data literacy is the ability to read, understand, create and communicate data as information.

“Where there is data smoke, there is business fire” warned Thomas C. Redman in his book Data Driven yet only half of audit teams are performing data analytics on every audit, according to Wolters Kluwer’s TeamMate Audit Benchmark

Almost all global organizations utilize digital tools and strategies to make data-driven decisions.

I recently spoke with an auditor who was lamenting about his organization hiring a team of consultants to evaluate how well a business unit was addressing internal audit process changes needed to better solve a set of client problems.

Many organizations around the world reject even the thought of changing the status quo or getting out of their established routines, moving to continuous risk assessment is a change worth making.

So, you have selected your Audit Management solution and now it is time to implement. What’s next?

Software developers take advantage of product usage information to enhance performance and make quick software changes to maximize utilization. These capabilities aren’t limited to just software developers, though.

COVID-19, like no one single event in recent years, has starkly brought to attention the need for most, if not all functions across the enterprise to be agile and tech-enabled in order to transcend beyond survival and, more importantly, to thrive in our post-pandemic reality.

During the last two years, the Wolters Kluwer Internal Audit organization has been developing and implementing a stakeholder engagement approach, outlining principles, desired outcomes, and success criteria.

Audit teams, both large and small, often cite talent shortage as the primary deterrent when filling open positions. Every candidate has a unique set of skills, and unfortunately, we may have pass up a person with a great resume if we are trying to hire to fill a specific need in our department.

Communication skills are always ranked among the most important skills for auditors, and working remotely really puts our communication skills to the test.

All organizations, regardless of whether they’re in the public or private sector, must face the repetitive task of onboarding staff members.

When adapting to the current work from home situation impacting most of us, prior to a pro-active risk assessment refresh the Internal Audit department at Wolters Kluwer has reactively reviewed the 2020 audit plan and shuffled a few audits around.

Doesn’t it seem that the term “data-driven” is getting tossed around quite a bit these days? You’re probably even seeing and hearing the term “data-driven audits”. So, what does “data-driven audit” mean?

Are we setting the right goals within internal audit? Will the achievement of these goals help us evolve in an age where the pace of change is staggering?

Today's fast-paced and evolving business environment requires an internal audit to consider its capabilities and needs to ensure appropriate strategic planning.

Despite an organization’s complexity, it’s the role of internal audit to provide assurance to audit committees and executive stakeholders.

Good resources coupled with a good tool can lead to a good SOX process, but a great tool will lead to a great SOX process. Whether you’re a team of 3 or a team of 50, if the goal is to “wear your SOX well,” then incorporating a controls management tool into your process can get you there quickly and efficiently.

In the past eight years, I have worked with more than 500 audit departments. Most of the people I talk to every day are looking for a solution to their unique requirements.

All expense policies have their own nuances, but there are some simple tests that we should include in every T&E audit analytics program.