Annual plan used to be a rolling 12-month window built off an Access database that increased frequency if the "conclusion" was bad or worse. That wasn't scalable and writing the report was tough (small boxes on screen) and output wasn't as slick as wanted for audience. Anyway, we went to an .xls. At the same time we transitioned to more of a "pull" system where Mgmt could request "custom" audits or additional audits in pre-determined areas/processes. All of our auditors are part-time with other jobs at the company. Plus, auditees, though cooperative on balance, aren't always around. These last two have gotten progressively "worse" as we have become global (USA, Europe, China, South America, South Africa, etc.). Then you don't know for sure when there will be demand for a "pull" audit. To accommodate all this, auditors basically have a set of audits assigned by quarter. When they get it done is up to them to manage, so long as it is sometime that quarter.