IPPF Standard 2410: Criteria For Communicating

Generally executives have the attention span of a gnat. When communicating with executives, whether in management or on the board, they need you to get to the point quickly, communicate what they need to know and no more, and then answer their questions in the same manner. They do not want to be bothered by stuff they do not need to know. This style of communication extends beyond the oral to the written communication as well.

As per the IIA the IPPF Standard 2410 – Criteria for Communicating, “Communications must include the engagement’s objectives and scope as well as applicable conclusions, recommendations, and action plans”.

The typical internal audit report has certain regular sections i.e., purpose, scope & background and executive summary and details of audit findings. The findings are generally categorised using a pre-defined and accepted risk definition (high, medium and low) and the internal controls are also generally assessed on certain scale (controlled, defective or needs improvement).

Purpose statement describes why the audit engagement is undertaken and the expectations from the audit assignment.

Scope statements identify the areas / activities to be audited and provide information about the period covered as part of audit review and setting out the boundary conditions of the

If an internal auditor reports a problem that is only an indicator, process owner may not be inclined to initiate corrective action to solve the problem on a permanent basis. On the other hand, if the root cause is indicated and remediated, then the problem is addressed permanently. However, identifying the root cause is a difficult proposition and it requires indepth understanding of the work flow before the problem becomes visible. This would require answering several why’s. It is similar to peeling of the skin of an onion, layer by