The Audit Tool will help Audit departments of Banks to createand manage a schedule of various audits plans - quarterly, half yearly or yearly.

In order to do this, the Audit Tool will store and provide necessary information- such as resource availability (list of Auditors and their commitments, leave plans etc.), the due dates for the next scheduled audit for all the branches, average time required for the audit of each branch (based upon previous audit, size of branch, mix of business etc) and the list of issues (if previously identified).

The Audit Tool has the facility to store the Risk Rating of the branches as this is one of the important criteria for deciding on the frequency of internal audit (also referred to as the audit cycle for the branch). Any other parameter(s) used by the Bank for deciding on the frequency of audit (size of branch, mix of business, complexity of business, previously commented issues etc.…) can be stored in the Audit Tool and can be used to generate the due dates of the next Audit for each branch based upon these parameters.

The Audit Tool provides a ‘calendar’ facility to the Head of Audit to create the Audit Plan. For example, it will have the facility to mark periods during which Audits are avoided (for example during the holiday season and during quarter ends). The Head of Audit can create multiple ‘what if’ scenarios for the Audit Plan and also create multiple versions of the plan until he/she finalizes the plan. The finalized plan can be modified if necessary, based on changing circumstances. The costing factors of each audit exercise can also be determined to assess the cost to the company through this department.

Auditors will be able to view only the status of the audit of the current branch allocated to them (for confidentiality). At a frequency decided by the Head of Audit, the Audit Tool will generate a reminder to the Auditors asking them to update the status of the ongoing Audit. For example, the Auditor can confirm the date of completion of the ongoing Audit (on target, ahead of schedule, behind schedule. . .). If an Auditor is taking longer than planned for a particular branch audit due to issues that have been uncovered , he/she can input these details and give a revised estimate for completion of the Audit. If the estimated date is not in conformance to the target date as per the Audit Plan, the system will trigger an alert to the Head of Audit, who can view the status of this Audit as well as other branch Audits and decide on whether the Audit Plan needs modification, and if yes, make the necessary modifications to the Plan.