Examples of Audit Objectives
The table below presents generic examples of descriptive and normative audit objectives related to potential focus areas of audits of efficiency.
Focus area | Descriptive audit objective | Normative audit objective |
|---|---|---|
|
Recognized efficiency improvement methods or frameworks |
To assess the design and implementation of the recognized improvement framework. |
To determine whether the design and implementation of the recognized improvement framework meets expectations or best practices. |
|
Systems and practices |
To assess the efficiency of management systems and practices (controls). To assess the effectiveness of management systems and practices (controls) at promoting the achievement of efficiency. |
To determine whether management systems and controls that support the achievement of efficiency meet expectations or best practices. |
|
Measurement of efficiency |
To assess management systems and practices (controls) to measure and report on efficiency. |
To determine whether management systems and practice (controls) to measure and report on efficiency meet expectations or best practices. |
|
Efficiency results |
To assess an organization’s (or a program’s) current operational efficiency performance. To assess an organization’s (or a program’s) operational efficiency performance over time. |
To determine whether an organization’s (or a program’s) operational efficiency performance meets benchmarks, standards, or key performance targets. |
Regardless of the type of objectives that are selected for an audit of efficiency, their precise wording is very important. Objectives should always be written in a way that will allow auditors to provide informative conclusions to the audit report’s audience. In particular, auditors should avoid objectives that only yield yes/no answers. For instance, if the audit objective was “ to determine whether management has a system for achieving efficiency in hospital emergency departments,” the logical conclusion would be either “yes, management has a system” or “no, management does not have a system.” Neither conclusion would tell the reader anything about the quality or the efficiency of the system in place and would therefore not be informative.
Auditors can find examples of published objectives for recent audits of efficiency in our Focus on Efficiency publication.
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