Internal Audit Findings Report Free Template

Overview

The Audit Findings Report is one of the most important output reports of the internal audit process. It communicates observations clearly, nonconformities, and recommendations to stakeholders so that the organizations are able to make informed decisions, close gaps, and improve compliance. Effective Audit Findings Report Templates not only assure consistency, but also create alignment with professional auditing standards and your internal auditing framework. It helps to template your audit results professionally and articulately whether it is for ISO standards, SOC 2, or internal process controls.

Purpose And Importance Of The Audit Findings Report

The purpose of the Audit Findings Report is to clearly present the results of an internal audit most succinctly and easily for action. This evidence-based report presents insights into areas of non-conformity, operational weaknesses, or risks that can harm management in:

• Being aware of compliance gaps, policy deviations, or process inefficiencies;
• Understanding the strengths and weaknesses in internal controls; 
• Laying down a clear way forward for corrective actions and future audits.

The importance of this report is to induce continuous improvement. An excellent report does not only fertilize ground for the mentioned problems but creates responsibility for and engender strategic changes. 

 

The Main Components Of An Effective Audit Findings Report Template

The report of a standardized audit findings should contain clearly defined sections that provide both summary and wide breakdown of audit comments. These major components help ensure clarity and stability:

1. Executive Summary

A brief observation that occupies the scope, objectives, major conclusions and overall conclusions of the audit. This is what the senior leadership reads first- so keep it crisp and concentrated.

2. Audit goods and scope

Apparently outline the purpose of the audit, which areas were covered, which procedures or departments were included, and what was outside the scope.

3. Procedure

In short, describe how the audit was conducted: interview, sampling, process walkthrough, documentation review, or system test. This determines reliability for findings.

4. Summary of conclusions

Arrange the findings in a table or bullet format with these elements:

• Overview: What was found?
• Risk level: low, medium, high
• Criteria: Did not standard, policy or control not be met?
• The root cause: Why the problem occurred?
• Effect: If it continues, what can be wrong?
• Recommendation: What should be done?

Categorizing And Prioritizing Findings

Not all conclusions are the same. An effective template should allow for classification and priority based on risk and business effects. You can break them into categories like:

A. High -risk conclusion

Issues that pose a serious threat to compliance, safety, financial integrity or business continuity. They require immediate action.

Examples: Unrestricted administrator access to sensitive systems.

B. Medium risk conclusion

Operations or procedure disabilities that can lead to large issues when leaving uncontrolled.

Example: Employee onboarding incomplete documents.

Align The Report With The Internal Audit Framework

To support governance objectives and ensure uniformity across audits, the Audit Findings Report should link to the Internal Audit Framework of your organization. Here is how:

a. Use a Uniform Report Structure

Across all audits, the same format for reporting should be used in terms of section headers, risk ratings, and layout. This will be helpful to internal stakeholders so that they know exactly what to expect, thus enhancing the ease of comparison through time.

b. Integrate with Audit Lifecycle

The Findings Report is part of a broader cycle of audit planning, execution, issuance of reports, follow-up, and closure. This linkage will ensure transparency and traceability, with all findings related to the original audit objective/control tested.

c. Include Management Response

The template should allow a space whereby department heads or process owners would be able to enter their management response to each finding:

• Do they agree with the finding?
• What corrective action will they take?
• What’s the expected timeline?

This adds accountability, and it shows that there was collaboration as opposed to an "Oh-no" accusation.

d. Follow-Up, Action Tracking

Within the internal audit framework, a cornerstone is seeing that findings result in actions. Therefore, in your report, provide a section (or link it to a tracker) where every finding is monitored until closure, its status updates documented.

In Conclusion

An apt audit findings report template is more than just documentation circulation; it is a conduit between internal audit and capturing substantial impacts at the organizational level. By having the report meet the requirements established by both ISO 19011 and ISO 27001, the audit is thus more timely, objective, and meaningful. From there, purpose-built templates allow you to standardize the communication of your findings, shine a light on risk, and ensure accountability. This transforms the audit into a great tool for improvement of processes and governance over time, rather than just an administrative slog for compliance.