Internal audit reports: keeping them on target

Poses the question: with the ever‐present pressure on internal audit to say what management wants to hear, how can auditors maintain the participative approach while ensuring that reports keep their essential features and achieve their purpose? Professional standards and practical observation assist in the process of matching tone to client. Outlines useful steps as: adequate client targeting and liaison; systematic follow‐up; appraisal of the wider readership and the use made of the report; appropriateness of presentation and of main components: introduction, management summary, recommendations, appendices; prioritizing action, while understanding the management predicament and the role of audit in system development; gaining senior audit back‐up; and reporting in the value added environment.