Creating an Audit

In addition to creation audits from an audit plan, audits can be created out-of-plan through the Initiate Audits app in case of ad hoc audit requests. Afterward, it is possible to include these audits in the audit plan or process it as an out-of-plan audit.

To create an audit, select the + button in the Initiate Audits app.

You can copy existing audits to save effort in creating audits. Open the Initiate Audits app, select the Copy button and find an existing audit to copy or navigate to a needed audit and select the Copy button in the audit. Enter a new title, a new planned time period and select items that you would like to copy to a new audit from the existing one:

• People
• Auditable Items
• Organizations
• Risks
• Dimensions
• Processes
• Work Program

You can also copy an audit from an audit plan in the Manage Audit Plans app or Consolidate Audit Plans app. The copied audit will automatically be added to the corresponding audit plan.

The Copied From field in the copied audit indicates the origin of the copy as well as when and by whom the copy is created. Estimated effort, scope, and all other attributes of copied audit can be edited after copy.

You can create audits using Excel templates to facilitate mass creation of audits. Open the Initiate Audits app, and select Mass Upload→Download Template. Fill in required fields of the template and save the file locally on your computer. Then select Mass Upload→Upload, and browse for the local template you just saved. Audits from the template will be displayed in the Initiate Audits app.

In addition, you can create audits with indication of the audit plan in the Resource Management app. While creating an audit in the Resource Management app, you can optionally specify the audit plan to which you want to add the new audit. After creation, the audit will be automatically included to the specified audit plan.

Select the Unassigned Audits button, then the Create Audit button in the Resource Management app to create an audit.

In the next step, regardless of the method of audit creation, you should define values of attributes of a new audit. When you wish to define basic attributes, some of them - like Audit Category or Country - allow you to choose from the predefined values. Fill in details on the audit creation screen, and, finally, save the audit by selecting the Save button. A newly created audit has the status, Draft.

All new audits will be available in the Initiate Audits app regardless of the method of creation. Responsible persons to create, maintain audits, and assign auditable items, risks, dimensions, organization, processes and audit team for audits are an audit manager and/or a CAE.

All audit participants are given a role within an audit team. Role allocation dictates their access to an audit, audit activities, and content. List of audit team members can be changed during audit's lifecycle. Standard SAP Audit Management roles for audits include Audit Manager, Audit Lead, Auditor, Chief Audit Executive, Executive Responsible, External Auditor, and Partner. Roles for External Auditor and Partner are used only for audit types where their involvement is planned. It is possible to configure a different set of audit team roles for different types of audits.

Select the Edit button in the People section to start assigning audit team members to the audit.

While assigning audit team members, you can use the search functionality to look for auditors with certain skills and qualifications. For example, let's assume it is necessary to assign to the audit team an auditor who is a specialist in Financial Audit. The audit manager chooses Financial Audit in Qualifications, and then selects Go or presses Enter. As a result, the system will only display relevant auditors.

Team member availability can be displayed while defining the audit team. View load of the team by adding the desired users and then selecting the Show Audit Calendar button in the People section to check users' calendars. Other audits of these team members will be displayed in time scale with color indication of audit phase.

All draft audits of the system can be initiated in the Initiate Audits app. It is mandatory to define an audit team before audit initiation. When the details are specified for an audit, the audit manager initiates an audit. The audit manager opens the audit in the Initiate Audits app and selects the Initiate button. An optional note can be provided during initiation.

After the audit is initiated, the audit preparation phase will be started. The audit lead can access initiated audits using the Prepare Audits app and start audit preparation activities.

Prior to the preparation of a work program, there is an option to include the audit announcement letter approval process as part of audit preparation phase. An audit announcement letter is a document that provides the basic information of the audit engagement to all the stakeholders.