

Also, avoid intensifiers like clearly, special, key, and reasonable as these lack precision. A limit of 15 to 18 words is recommended in business writing. In interest of clarity, opt for shorter sentences over longer ones.

Other types of audits (like operational and legal audits) can use the same types of opinions. Which opinion you express affects the tone, structure, and organization of an audit report, and the type of opinion you express is determined by the results of the audit. If you are writing a financial audit report, for example, it is important to understand there are four basic types of opinion that can be expressed. Investigative Audit: These are typically commissioned when there is an assumed violation of rules, regulations, or laws, and may involve a blend of all the previously mentioned types of audit.Compliance Audit: A compliance audit is performed to determine if an organization or program is operating in according with laws, policies, regulations, and procedures.Operational Audit: An operational audit is a review of an organization's usage of resources to ensure those resources are being utilized as efficiently and effectively as possible to accomplish the mission and goals of the organization.Financial Audit: This is the most commonly known form of audit and refers to the systematic review of a company's financial reporting to ensure all information is valid and conforms to GAAP standards.An audit is considered an official examination to verify that proper policies and procedures were followed, and therefore, an audit can take many forms. Opportunities for improvement: Beyond indicating things that are not conforming to requirements (non-conformities), it is important to also indicate high-risk areas, or areas that may be in compliance but are at risk of eventually not complying, or could be improved.For example, if you are conducting a compliance audit to ensure an organization meets training requirements, you may say, "The audit reveals the current training program has exceeded requirements on-time and on-budget". This allows the organization to focus on areas that are working and apply these to other areas. This is especially true for compliance reports, and operational audits. Outlining positives: An audit report should not just include negatives.The goal is that each non-conformity will contain enough information so that the receivers of the audit report can change it. It is then important to demonstrate which evidence you used to confirm the non-conformity. It is important to clearly identify the non-conformity, as well as the standard it does not conform to. Illustrating non-conformities: The main goal of any audit report is to illustrate where the organization does not conform with whatever standard, rule, regulation or objective that it is supposed to.

Having these in mind as you delve into the technicalities of writing a report will make sure your report does what it is supposed to do. Before delving into the specifics of writing an audit report, it is important to have a broad view of the major objectives of all audit reports. Understand the basic goals of all audit reports.
