ABSTRACT
However well the lead auditor and their audit team have performed in the previous stages of The Audit Adventure™, it will all count for little or nothing if the audit work performed in its Conclusion stage is not carried out with precision, imagination, and creativity. The challenge for the audit team throughout their work is to create an appetite for their audit findings and the consequent opportunities for improvement. Working bottom-up, auditors must identify, categorize, and consolidate to main messages their audit findings, identifying the root cause where possible. The main activities involved in concluding an audit are to finish the fieldwork (Review and Verify) to finalize the facts, agree areas of strength and any control weakness, map results onto a business control framework (BCF), identify and focus on the main findings/areas of significant residual risk, evaluate the BCF, discuss the findings with the auditee (nemawashi), determine the overall audit opinion, and to prepare and present their findings to senior management at an audit closing meeting.
