Why Your Company Needs an Internal Audit
Internal audits aren’t just for the big wigs - regardless of the size of your business, they can provide an important insight into your business’ internal processes and serve as a forewarning for potential issues, giving you the chance to correct course before problems arise. Whether you conduct the audit with an internal team, work with an external team, or simply hire a business consultant to take a look at your books and operations, it’s worth auditing the different areas of your business on a regular basis to ensure everything is up to your standards.
When do I need to audit?
An internal audit can be proactive or reactive, depending on your goals. Auditing areas of your business that seem to be operating perfectly can still glean information on what makes that area so successful, allowing you to apply it to other parts of your business, or to discover new ways to improve even further. For particularly integral parts of the business, regular audits ensure that they’re operating as expected before things go awry, and give you plenty of useful information to reference in the future. Reactive auditing can be used when there’s a known problem and is often the first step toward finding a solution to the issue.
How internal audits benefit your business
Internal audits are created to catch the root causes of the symptoms your business is feeling, both good and bad. As an example, if expenses are far too high, an internal audit may catch issues such as wasted expenses or employee fraud. They’ll also guarantee that the procedures laid out are followed as expected, which is important to regulatory compliance. An internal audit will catch inconsistencies, and allow you to ensure you’re in compliance before your business lands in hot water over regulatory issues.
Mainly, audits serve as a measuring tool for your business. No matter how well-defined your processes are, if they’re not being closely followed, they’re not effective. Audits can provide a tangible measurement of how closely your business is operating to your processes, and reveal areas for improvement. They can also provide a good time to step back and evaluate the different pieces of your business based on the results you’ve received to perform updates as needed.
Not sure where to start with an audit? Give Business & Beyond, LLC a call. Our coaching and consulting programs provide a personalized guide to everything you need to know about operating your business, and our fractional services allow us to guide your business directly through its toughest problems. We’re focused on taking you and your business to the next level.