Guidance on remote auditing for the use of internal auditors

Auditing, just like technology, is evolving. Once an exclusively on-site exercise, be it a face-to-face meeting with an auditee, having a coffee in the boardroom with a senior manager and discussing context and leadership, or having a site tour of the facilities with a member of the operational team, audits can now be carried out remotely using information communication technology. Due to the travel restrictions and obligation to work from home related to the COVID-19 pandemic remote auditing was not an option anymore but became a necessity.

The purpose of this guidance is to describe what remote auditing is, how to assess whether or not an audit is suitable to be conducted remotely, the tools that are available for remote auditing and how to approach remote auditing in the organization. It describes a number of practices not yet commonly used in the organization, learned during the Covid 19 pandemic, which the auditors should consider when performing a remote audit.

Next to this guidance there is a second publication on remote auditing released by IIA Global. Click here for the publication.