Drafting Audit Objectives

The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Fundamental Principles of Performance Auditing recognize three basic types of audit objectives: descriptive, normative, and analytical.

• Descriptive audit objectives ask the question, “How is it?” How are the systems performing or what are the results? An example of a descriptive objective would be “to assess the progress made by the organization in implementing its gender equality program.”
  
  
• Normative audit objectives ask the question, “Is it as it ought to be?” Are systems meeting expectations or best practices, or are results meeting expectations, performance targets, or best practices? An example of a normative objective would be “to determine whether a gender equity program is meeting its stated objectives and targets.”
  
  
• Analytical audit objectives ask the question, “Why is it not as it ought to be?” Why are systems or results not meeting expectations? An example of an analytical objective would be “to determine why a gender equity program has not delivered its expected outcomes.”

INTOSAI standards state that normative and analytical audit objectives are more likely to add value than descriptive audit objectives.

Audit objectives need to be aligned with the audit focus. At this stage, auditors will have acquired knowledge of business information and should be able to answer the following questions:

• Has an organization implemented an initiative aimed at achieving gender equality?
  
  
• Does the management of an organization or program have general systems and practices that foster gender equality?
  
  
• Are comparative gender equality benchmarks, baseline data, or key performance targets and indicators available?
  
  
• Does management measure gender equality?
  
  
• Could the auditors measure gender equality?

Knowing the answer to these questions will help auditors to determine the audit focus and audit objectives.Table 2 presents generic examples of normative audit objectives related to different focus areas.

Table 2 – Examples of Normative Audit Objectives in Relation to Specific Focus Areas

In some cases, auditors will have the flexibility to select more than one type of objective. For example, an audit team may be able to adopt three different objectives:

1. To determine whether management systems and practices that support the achievement of gender equality meet expectations or best practices.

2. To determine whether management systems and practices to measure and report on gender equality meet expectations or best practices.

3. To determine whether an organization’s gender equality performance meets benchmarks, standards, or key performance targets.

In this case, the audit team could select one or more of the three objectives depending on available resources, significance, risk, or other relevant factors.

In other cases, this flexibility may not exist. For example, if management does not measure gender equality and it is determined that it would not be possible or practical for auditors to measure gender equality themselves, then an audit objective related to gender equality results would not be possible. The best approach in this case could be to have an objective on systems and practices to measure gender equality.

Even when measurements of gender equality exist, the capacity to audit results will be limited if there are no benchmarks, baselines, or key performance targets available to provide a comparison.

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