How engaging with internal stakeholders increases audit efficiency
It's the job of the internal audit team to maintain a system of checks and balances for the rest of their organization. However, this doesn't mean they need to work in a silo.
By regularly engaging with internal stakeholders, audit teams can not only provide better assurance, but also drive significant time and cost savings.
Using audit analytics to increase transparency
Digital audit analytics solutions make it easy for internal audit teams to access the information they need quickly — and when other business units can do the same, everyone benefits from greater efficiency.
Diligent recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to develop a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study analyzing the costs and benefits of Diligent Audit and Analytics. Among numerous other quantitative and qualitative benefits, Forrester found that Diligent Audit and Analytics improves internal audit productivity by making information more accessible.
For example, many internal audit teams work with key information that is of interest to other groups within the organization. With the self-service aspect of Diligent Audit and Analytics, these business users no longer need to ask the audit team for specific data; they can access the information they need on their own, without creating a backlog. Over three years, this productivity boost among business users was worth $1.3 million to the client organization interviewed by Forrester.
Other key benefits identified by Forrester include:
- Expanded use cases for better coverage: Internal audit teams often do various analytics work not only for their own projects, but also to generate information used by other departments. The automation offered by Diligent Audit & Analytics makes it easy to expand this use case and coverage to other parts of the organization.
- No more manual requests: With automation, audit teams no longer have to manually request data or conduct manual assessments. Over three years, this efficiency can save organizations up to $136,200.
- A more agile internal audit team: With information about audit activities instantly available, internal audit teams can take immediate follow-up actions.
Thanks to the resulting time savings, productivity gains and increased agility, deeper engagement between the audit team and internal stakeholders elevates the position of the internal audit team in the eyes of management and other business units.
With innovative solutions like Diligent Audit and Analytics, audit teams can spend more time developing key insights that guide the overall business strategy.
To learn more about what Diligent Audit and Analytics can do for your organization, download the complete Forrester study.
