Re: Internal Audit Man-Days
In planning our audit program...this question was raised also.
We found that being flexible was the answer that worked for our small company.
Our auditors are not full time dedicated auditors, sometimes a particular project may impact either the auditor or auditees schedule.
However, there has been no instance of someone being unavailable for a complete month.
So, our audits are scheduled with a month for the auditor to complete.
Does it take all 30 days for our auditors to complete a process audit?
No.
They may take 1 day to desk audit the documents, a few hours a week later to interview or observe the process, and another day or so to complete the analysis, then the closing meeting is scheduled at a time convenient for both parties. Once an agreement has been reached by everyone the audit report is written (usually this does not take long either- but also may not occur during the same day the closing meeting occurs).
It requires auditors who really want to audit, they also have to take very good notes, and be very good at time management (which is what we expect from our auditors anyway).
I also monitor (COMMUNICATE with the auditors) to track at what stage a particular audit is at during the month and if the auditor is having any issues that can be resolved with assistance. Generally it is due to an auditor getting a case of scope creep or time management and this is resolved and noted for the next audit the auditor is assigned. Most likely at that time the auditor will be paired with a more effective auditor so they can be exposed to that auditors best practices.
The results have been that very few audit reports arrive late, our audit program follows the plan, the auditors primary roles have not been disrupted, and our audits have given us some very valuable insights for improvements.
Again our company is small, this may not work for all sizes. But this is how we worked out an answer to the question.
~Brunetta