No matter the industry, if you are looking to improve an audit trail then there is one thing you want less of: audit risk. Case management solutions can alleviate such a risk.
Investopedia defines audit risk as:
The risk that financial statements are materially incorrect, even though the audit opinion states that the financial reports are free of any material misstatements. The two components of audit risk are the risk of material misstatement and detection risk. Because creditors, investors and other stakeholders rely on the financial statements, audit risk may carry legal liability for a CPA firm performing audit work.
Of course, for those who specialize in the accounting and finance industry, such liabilities are enough to keep them up at night.
Reliable case management solutions help financial professionals get the night’s rest they’re looking for. But they’re not the only ones, unfortunately, seeking help along the audit trail.
Fraud is Ever-Present
Just about any official entity has some degree of financial interaction, which means that the door is always open for fraud. Internal fraud cases are usually the most insidious because most business leaders do not suspect their own people.
Often, when the red flags are finally noticed internally, it is often too late. To further complicate matters, management may assign someone a case to investigate, such as an IT professional, for whom creating an audit trail is not their job.
Usually, an expert is advisable for major financial fraud investigations, which is a good start as a case management solution.
Still, the typical scenario involves a multitude of participants to successfully create a solid audit trail: IT and other employees on the ground, managers, CFOs, CEOs, business partners, outside vendors and the financial professionals piecing together an audit trail.
No matter how well you know your specialty, collating the appropriate information in a sensible manner can prove challenging for auditing efforts.
Building a Strong Audit Trail
If you want to build a strong trail, reduce audit risk and complete the case management solution, some questions may linger, such as:
- How are all these professionals being orchestrated?
- Who (or what) is curating all of this data?
- Is work being duplicated?
- When is the work being done, and how long is it taking?
- Where can a team of professionals turn to if they need access to everyone’s data at any given time???
For one, a central repository that can be accessed anywhere at any time is essential for multiple participants in an audit – that’s another good start as a case management solution, but more is needed.
Curating, organizing and the ability to cross-reference information goes much further for investigators. Complete solutions can be found with a web-based investigative management database.
How to use it, how to customize it and having it readily available on your portable device can shorten the required length of a good audit tremendously.
Software to Improve Your Audit Trail
For all parties to use a software well, it needs to be user-friendly. That’s what Scout offers in our software, our mobile app and our client service. We’re more than happy to walk you through the steps in this complete case management solution.
To get a clearer picture in improving audit cases and reducing audit risk, request a demo with us at your convenience.