Achieving Continual Improvement through Effective Audit Management

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would first like to express my gratitude for my research supervisor, colleagues, peers and family whose immense and constant support has been a source of continuous guidance and inspiration.

DECLARATION

I [type your full first names & surname here], declare that the following dissertation/thesis and its entire content has been an individual, unaided effort and has not been submitted or published before. Furthermore, it reflects my opinion and take on the topic and is does not represent the opinion of the University.

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ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to investigate the approach adopted by company senior management team towards achieving continual improvement through audit management. For this study the Ernst & Young Company has been selected. The research will be conducted as an exploratory research to review Ernst & Young management approach to achieve continual improvement through effective audit management.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

ABSTRACTiv

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION6

Background of the Study6

Problem Statement7

Purpose of the Study8

Objective of the Study8

Research Question8

Significance of the Study8

CHAPTER # 2: LITERATURE REVIEW11

Introduction11

Continuous Improvement & Learning Organization11

Audit13

Audit process quality14

Stage-One Audit Process Quality15

Stage-Two Audit Process Quality17

Perceptual Quality17

Reliability17

Assurance18

Empathy18

How the Audit Checklist Works18

After the Audit19

The internal audit20

Auditor Industry Specialization20

Changing environment and business23

New requirements of the Internal Audit24

New responsibilities25

The internal audit activity and cost as strategic improvement26

Audit as Generator and Improvement Driver27

Continuous Improvement Applied To Internal Audit28

Summary29

REFERENCES31

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Senior managers of the organizations set the goals for continuous improvement. These goals include the improvement of internal efficiency through which organization remains economically competitive and fulfil the customer's needs and market expectations.

Effective audit management is considering as an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity which is designed to add value and improve the organization's function (Maher, Ramanan, 2008, 54-55). It helps in fulfil the objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of management processes, control and governance.

This business side reviews the reliability and integrity of information, compliance with policies and regulations, safeguarding assets, the economical and efficient use of resources and compliance with established operational goals and objectives (Bainbridge, Paul, 2006, 63-74).

Intelligently defined, internal auditing can and should help to manage risks, eliminate the complexities and redundancies that exist about the controls and reduce costs, which will improve competitiveness and protect the value of the company to its shareholders.

Problem Statement

Most of the existing research on the audit process quality focuses on the quality of financial audits, which is different from the subject of interest in this research: effective audit management to gain continuous improvement. Although both type of audits obtain audit evidence and evaluate it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled, management system audits differ from financial audits in terms of their tasks, objectives, nature of audit evidence, evidence collecting method and the audit governance mechanism (Phillips, 2009, 1-85).

Financial auditing is the process by which a competent and independent individual accumulates and evaluates evidence concerning financial statements prepared by a specific economic entity, for the purpose of determining and reporting upon the ...