Audit Reports - Typed or Hand Written?

[Shaun Daly]

I have been training a new internal auditor (shes a natural, best Ive ever seen) and she asked an interesting question;

"Cant we type these audit reports up instead of hand writing them?"

TBH I have always hand written them as I was trained that way, and have never really given it another thought.

In principle i think its a good idea, especially considering my handwriting

As long as there are signatures from the auditee/department head present it sounds feasible for the auditor to type the findings up?

Opinions & comments from experiance very welcome please.

 

[howste]

I hand write my audit notes, but always type the audit report. In some cases (such as with a gap analysis) I may also transcribe my complete audit notes on my laptop as well. I'm lazy though, so I use voice recognition software to help me.

One of the companies I'm consulting with is in the process of buying a tablet PC with handwriting recognition to use for their internal audits. That way they can go straight to the electronic record. I'm anxious to see how that turns out...

 

[Jimmy Olson]

All of our internal audit reports are done electronically and we haven't had any problem. When we have our external audits we receive the report on a floppy disk for distribution.

Doing it this way makes it a lot easier to generate the report and to store it.

 

[Howard Atkins]

For years I have printed audit reports. Most companies that I have seen also do this. Supplier audits have also been printed.
The important matter is to define in your procedure the maximum time betwee the audit and the report.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Typed... Nobody likes my handwriting.

We manage our entire audit system in an Access application. That includes reports, checklists, CAR's and follow up.

Paper copies of the reports, complete with checklists and notes goes to those concerned by the audit and all reports are also published on our intranet, where every single coworker can read them...

Btw: You know what, Shaun? My handwriting is abysmal too.

Another matter: You said "I have been training a new internal auditor (shes a natural, best Ive ever seen)". That provoked a thought. I opened the thread Your description of a natural born auditor? so we can discuss what being a natural really means when it comes to auditing.

/Claes

 

[RoxaneB]

Our Internal Audit Report packages are typed, primarily for legibilitiy reasons. When I do an audit, my notes are a bunch of checkmarks, circles, and shorthand...frankly, I don't think an External Auditor would buy that as being legible as I'm the only one who can decipher it.

Audit Teams generate a typed version of their notes/checklists and the Audit Report is typed too.

However, that being said, IAR packages are maintained hard copy as records? Why? Because there are also attendance records for the opening and closing meetings, as well as signatures required from the Audit Team members for their Planning/Preparation meeting(s).

 

[Aaron Lupo]

I hand write my audit notes, but always type the audit report. In some cases (such as with a gap analysis) I may also transcribe my complete audit notes on my laptop as well. I'm lazy though, so I use voice recognition software to help me.

One of the companies I'm consulting with is in the process of buying a tablet PC with handwriting recognition to use for their internal audits. That way they can go straight to the electronic record. I'm anxious to see how that turns out...

Yep, I hand write my notes during the actual audit then type a report summarzing what I observed.

 

[Joe Cruse]

We generally do an audit report, summarizing the notes and all from the audit checklist. We still keep the audit checklist in the internal audit file though. I've gone and typed up a copy of the checklist before, because my handwriting is microscopic and abyssmal (according to some ), and the registrar auditor has always remarked on "someone's handwriting" before. I quit doing that because I'm only duplicating the work when I do an audit report.

Joe

 

[Craig H.]

I/we do an audit plan in a Word template, then handwritten audit notes are input into the same template to be printed as the final report.

Our external auditor has a handhelp computer that he types notes in as we go through the audit. He has the capability to use IR to download these notes into a laptop, where he can complete the report and print it. Its a very slick setup.

 

[SteelMaiden]

Our checklist notes are handwritten but any "reports" are typed up and distributed as needed. The nonconformances are identified in the checklists as a "fail" and entered into our audit corrective actions database.