Download these 23 Free Annual Audit Report Templates to guide you in preparing your Audit Report effectively.
An Auditor is a third-party elevator or analyst that a client or customer hires to verify or check something in particular. A financial auditor checks the bank statements and accounts-related files in a company whereas a compliance auditor investigates the work environment and work atmosphere of workers in a factory. At the end of the audit, the auditor is asked and required to present his audit reports in written form. This can be as easy as putting the found data on paper and as complicated as explaining what’s wrong with a particular operation or why the financial statements don’t match. In either case, data or content in the audit report should be tailored effectively. So it’s easier for the readers to understand and convenient to review quickly.
Guidelines to Create Effective Content for Audit Report:
Understand the type of audit before writing the Report:
You may think that there are only financial auditors that work on the financial statements and accounts of the company but other than that, there are also operational auditors, investigative auditors, in line auditors, and compliance auditors. They all have different jobs and based on their particular responsibilities, they present different reports of the audit. Each of these audit reports has a certain format to present the content and before you start the report, review a proper format suitable for your audit report.
At the start, provide details of the Report:
Before you start the audit report, begin with introducing the audit, its type, its purpose, the start date, end date, duration of completion, and location of the audit. You may think that it’s not important to provide these details but keep in mind that every audit is different and when a shipment audit is completed in one hour, a warehouse inventory audit can take weeks or even months to finish so it’s important to include the particulars about the audit.
Include the methods the auditor(s) used for the Audit:
As we have discussed above, there are various kinds of audits and each of them is usually different from the others. Because of that, auditors usually use different methods to conduct the audit as per their requirements and needs. For an effective and complete audit report, the content should include the method that the auditor took. For example, if it’s a garment shipment audit, the auditor will explain that he opened a few of the boxes and checked the quality and specs of the garments whereas, on the other hand, an inventory auditor will tell you that he visited a warehouse or store personally and counted the merchandise by himself.
Always make sure to give a conclusion at the end of the Report:
Auditors are only hired to find out the real truth behind the scene and they have nothing to do with how they reached the actual picture and what kind of suggestions they have for the problems they found. For example, if an inventory auditor found some items missing in the warehouse, he is hired only to present his findings and complete the report. The client doesn’t require or want the auditor to suggest any solutions for the problems but it’s an obligation that the auditor should do. This means, your audit report should end with an effective and brief summary of the audit figures, data found during the audit, and results along with the problems or errors and possible solutions for them.
Put your credentials and sign the report at the end:
The perfect way to finish or end the audit report after putting your conclusions is to give your details and credentials and sign the report. Here you are supposed to put your full name, complete address; educational credentials i.e. degrees or level of education, the firm that appointed you as the auditor, and your contact number along with your full signature.
Free Annual Audit Report Templates
Here are these 23 Free Annual Audit Report Templates to help you prepare your very own Audit Report quickly and effectively.
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Here is download link for this annual audit report template 18 in MS Word Format,
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Here is download link for this annual audit report template 15 in MS Excel Format,
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Here is a preview of This First Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template using MS Word.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template using MS Word.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in PDF Format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template using MS Word.
Source: worksafe.qld.gov.au
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template using MS Word.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in MS Word format.
Source: results.wa.gov
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Here is a preview of another Sample Audit Report Template in PDF Format.
Download the link for this Sample Audit Report Template.
Audit Report Writing Tips:
Understand the purpose: Before starting the audit process or writing the audit report, you should first understand why you are preparing the report in the first place. When you were asked to conduct the audit and prepare the audit report, you were also told about the purpose of the report. For instance, while you were asked to conduct a financial audit, the purpose of this audit was to ensure that the cash flow is smooth and there is no wrongful or false data being fed to the higher management by the finance department. Once you understand the key purpose of the report, it will be easier for you to focus on the key aspects of the report from the point of view of the purpose.
Get to know the target audience: The next tip for writing an audit report is to find who will read your report. It’s possible that your report will be used for internal purposes only or it might be released to outside sources i.e. customers, potential buyers, third-party lawyers or bankers, etc. For each group of readers, the report should be written in a different way and according to their needs and requirements. Instead of presenting a wrong report and getting it rejected to rework on the new format, you should submit an acceptable report in the first place.
Use a gentle and neutral tone: While you conduct the audit and create the report, it’s possible that some departments or employees in the office won’t cooperate with you. This is because auditors are considered cruel and unkind. After all, they always bring the real facts and figures to the surface. You might ask someone to present a report and he might say that it’s missing or he can’t find it. Instead of reporting it as it is in the final report and blaming that person, you can just say that some files weren’t found so there is no record of that particular item in the report.
Ensure to proofread the report at the end: You will not believe how many people make small grammatical mistakes in the audit reports even though they have been preparing these reports for so many years. This is because of being overconfident that you can’t make a mistake because you have so much experience. A good auditor knows and understands that it’s always possible to make small mistakes and errors. A professional approach is to proofread the audit report at the end so if there is any mistake, you can timely correct it.
Add visual material: Keep in mind that it’s still an audit report and not a presentation but you should add at least a few visual items i.e. pictures or graphs to showcase the information in the best possible way. The beauty of using an image or a graphic chart is that you can save a lot of space because a picture is worth a thousand words. Instead of explaining the same statistics in a long and lengthy paragraph, you should just add a small graph or chart that portrays the statistics more simply.
