An operational audit will be of great help to the organization to be better and make important decisions related to the issue of how to improve, I have experienced how an operational audit increases the effectiveness in the administration as long as there is the willingness of the management to take adequate measures.
When the operational audit cycle is applied in an organization, an opinion is observed, compiled, analyzed and presented on the administrative and operational aspects, paying great attention to the elements of effectiveness and efficiency with which resources have been used, both material and In this process, it will be determined whether any significant deficiency in accounting policy, procedures and practices has been made, as it is also useful to the organization as it helps to show the purchasing needs that have been made during a fiscal year.
Through the application of procedures we will identify the areas of cost reduction, improvement of methods and operational processes in order to increase productivity and profitability throughout the company or in an area examined.
Below we will develop this operational audit cycle in a practical way:
PRELIMINARY STAGE: In this first stage, a good amount of general information is collected on the important aspects of the company, this is where the commercial activity, date of incorporation, social capital, knowledge about the shareholders, organizational structure, mission, vision is known, objectives, products or services they offer.
At this stage, the managerial characteristics of the directors are also identified, the company's policies, identification of sensitive situations pending identification not yet resolved, existence of manuals and procedures, projections, number of workers, staff rotation, information systems that used among others.
It is also relevant to take a tour of the facilities to observe the operation of the most important operating units, it is necessary to emphasize the understanding of the activities this is a fundamental step, it is worth noting that once all the information has been collected, the to decide whether to accept the job or not to move on to the next level.
GENERAL STUDY: it is in this phase where the action plan is executed with the information collected in the previous stage, a general analysis of the entity's areas is carried out, here it is arranged to assign work to the members of the work team, delivery of programs to carry out evaluations of operations, processes, activities, functions, objectives, projections, internal controls, manuals, strategies, process flow, internal controls, risk analysis, comparative analysis of financial information, verification of compliance, verification of the production process and verifications that are necessary in order to have information that helps to be able to propose improvements and optimize the company's processes.
SPECIFIC STUDIES: In this stage, an in-depth examination approach is given to the most critical areas identified and analyzed in the previous stage, here the degree of experience and training of the auditors is of utmost importance as they will use their knowledge skills to A more detailed analysis, here there are specific work programs, this work must bring findings that support the conclusions and recommendations, it must have causes and effects of the findings.
THE COMMUNICATION OF RESULTS: at this stage, the preparation of the operational audit report should be scheduled from its drafting to the presentation of the results to the organization's management in a formal meeting, this report should provide an independent expert opinion on relation to the subject under examination with its corresponding evidence. The Auditors provide a better service to Management and maintain better relations with the departmental management when they comment on the facts they have found and their recommendations. This report should be useful for the entity in its objective of being more productive and efficient.
The importance of all this is not only in applying an operational audit in the organization, but in having as a manager a strong will rooted in the principle of always being better, because these processes can yield a lot of information about what is not going so well, but if Managers do not take advantage of this source of opportunities, everything will come to nothing, it is necessary to analyze and reflect on their results and make the appropriate decisions to add to the effectiveness and progress of the organization.
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Author: Lcdo. Michael Aular - Micdan Consulting
