Page 50 - 4. Pre-Course Reading-Training on Forestry Audit 2019

Auditing Forests: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions

Appendix 3: Audit Design Matrix

This matrix is designed as a tool to assist an auditor design an 3. Identify related risk
audit program. In designing an audit program, auditor may follow After deciding on the topic and sub-topics, the SAI then needs
these steps:
to begin identifying the risk or risks with the potential to influence
the direction and aims of both the audit and the work of each of
the units working on the sub-topics. The identified risks have the
STEPS IN DESIGNING AN AUDIT PROGRAMME potential to become part of the audit’s ultimate findings. A list of
potential risks and threats related to each sub-topic is presented
50 1. CHOOSE PRIMARY AUDIT TOPIC in Chapter II. We can use Environmental Impact Assessment as
an information resource to identify forest risks.

2. DECIDE THE SUB-TOPIC 4. Formulate potential audit objective
and researchable questions
Risk identification enables the SAI to develop a clearer picture of
3. IDENTIFY RELATED RISK the audit’s direction and possible findings. This helps the SAI to
formulate the audit’s principal objective. Once a potential audit
objective is formulated, the next step is to develop the kinds of
research questions or lines of inquiry that are likely to guide the
4. FORMULATE POTENTIAL AUDIT OBJECTIVE investigation towards achieving this objective. The questions
AND RESEARCHABLE QUESTIONS THREAT
must be sufficiently comprehensive to enable the auditors to fulfill
the potential audit objective.

5. DECIDE AUDIT CRITERIA
5. Decide Audit Criteria
Auditors will then examine the ways in which these questions can
1. Choose the primary audit topic be answered. This is crucial to determining the audit’s criteria.
Each question will require corresponding and measurable criteria
This is most important step in the audit process. The SAI needs to to determine the degree of compliance of the entity being audited.
identify key forest issue of greatest importance for the recipients Audit criteria may be developed from international conventions
of the report. This should be done in consultation with the client
to ensure both parties agree and clearly understand the main agreements (bilateral and multilateral), national regulations,
policies, best practices, and benchmarks (see Chapter II for more
purpose of the audit. A selection of important audit topics can be information).
found in Chapter II.

2. Decide the sub-topic THE AUDIT DESIGN MATRIX
The primary topic is a concise statement of the audit’s mission or
purpose. Once confirmed, sub-topics needs to be segmented Each of the preceding steps is presented in audit design matrix
into to facilitate planning the audit, including the risk analysis, below. This matrix could be used to determine audit objectives,
internal controls and the roles of each SAI unit working on the scope, and criteria. Although these are steps presented linearly, in
audit. A list of sub-topics is presented in Appendix 4. fact the steps are all interrelated to a greater or lesser degree.