Minimize the Pain of the Audit Process

The audit is integral to corporate life. There’s the financial audit, the IT audit, the risk audit, the compliance audit, and, of course, the operational audit. There are so many audits, in fact, that most companies are perpetually either auditing or being audited.

The good news is that manual due diligence is no longer the only option. Advancements in cloud storage, software-as-a-service, and predictive analytics make this the perfect time for a disruptive due diligence automation solution. Here are five best practices for due diligence automation, which we’ve created based on the success of our Inter Company Network.

1-Sided Problems for 2-Sided Audit Process

Alas, the audit always saps more manual resources than you expect. Because audits are inherently at least a two-sided process, there has to be a continuous exchange of information, data, communication, and expectations between the auditor and the subject of the audit. This inevitably tailspins into email chaos.

So far, attempts at automating the audit process have focused on helping the auditor organize their side of the process. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help the subject of the audit and neither party achieves 360-degree organizational visibility or control.

3 Pillars of Audit Automation

Any solution that wants to fundamentally transform the audit process must take into account the two-sided nature of audit. To automate the audit process, an online collaboration platform must address these three pillars of the end-to-end workflow:

• The Auditor: Automate the creation, management, and evaluation of the process.
• The Subject of the Audit: Automate the process of responding to the queries, including internal assignments and collaboration.
• The Process: Capture and simplify the constant back-and-forth down to the level of an audit item or issue resolution.

With advancements in cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery, online collaboration solutions are now emerging that target the process in a holistic way. The CENTRL platform, built as an inter-company network, offers full-blown capabilities to both the auditor and the subject of the audit. We automate the inter-company flow and capture the entirety of the interaction within the application. This has the potential to create enormous efficiencies for both parties while reducing the risk of lost information and the cost of delays and rework.

Learn more about streamlining your audit processes by requesting a demo of the CENTRL platform.