We're here to help you with your Annual Planning for 2021. Each week we will be uploading new blog posts which will guide you and help you deliver a well rounded Annual Plan for 2021.
Should you have any questions or wish to share your own experiences, this is the forum for you!
We look forward to you joining us on this Annual Planning journey.
It's our final week of the annual planning month. This week we summarise all the great work which we have already performed and get ready to present this to the audit committee.
As always, we have some templates to help you with your audit committee presentations. You can access the templates by clicking on the links below:
To view the free template, please click here.
To purchase an editable version of the audit committee deck template, please click here. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
We're not far from the end now!! This week we are going to leverage off what we have done in building the strategic plan.
Here are some tools which will help you with this weeks activity:
Blog Post:
To learn more about how to write an annual plan and suggestions on what to include, click here to view our blog post.
Templates:
To purchase a copy of our strategic plan PowerPoint template, please click here. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
It's week 4 and now we are bringing it all together. We have so far held a number of meetings with stakeholders, done a heap of research and built a shortlist of audits that could be performed.
Now we need to build our strategic plan and seek feedback from the exec and key stakeholders in the business to make sure it addresses their concerns and priority areas (whilst ensuring it meets our own needs and the needs of the audit committee. Below are some key resources which will help you complete this weeks activity of building our strategic plan.
Blog Post:
For tips and tricks on how to write a strategic plan and what to include, you can view our blog post here.
Templates:
To purchase a copy of our strategic plan PowerPoint template, please click here. To purchase a copy of our strategic plan Word template, please click here. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
Welcome to week 3 of our annual planning month. This week, we are going to start meeting with all the key stakeholders which we identified in week 1. In preparation for these meetings, its always good to have an agenda. Sounds old school, but it ensures we get everything we need from our key stakeholders whilst ensuring they have sufficient time to provide their own comments and thoughts.
Before we meet with our stakeholders, it may be worthwhile sending them a copy of the meeting agenda. In addition, you may want to provide some suggestions to them for audit topics based off the research which we performed last week. The key to these meetings being successful is being prepared and being aware.
Once you have had the meetings, it is equally as important to capture the meeting minutes. These will act as a great point of reference in the future when we need to recall key points from our discussion. You can download a copy of our meeting minutes template here. Please note, this template is included in the Annual Planning complete set of templates.
Summarising what we have learnt
Its important to consolidate all of these meetings. We are going to be fed a lot of information and we won't have time to filter though all these meeting minutes individually. Below is a template to help consolidate the audit topics identified through our meeting minutes. Keep this document handy - it'll be critical to building your annual plan.
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Join the chat!
Post your questions, comments, or suggestions here and help others through the annual planning process.
We're into week 2 now of our annual planning month, and this week we are going to focus on our own Internal Audit Strategy, the organisation's strategy, and begin pulling together information from a range of external sources so we are well prepared for our stakeholder meetings. Our three key activities for this week are:
Updating our Internal Audit Strategy;
Reviewing and understanding the Organisation's Strategy; and
Review external info (such as Hot Topic reports).
Below you will find links to various bits and pieces to support you with these activities.
Updating our Internal Audit Strategy
The Internal Audit Strategy sets the goals, mission and long term vision of the audit department. It isn't critical to the annual planning process, but it is a great tool to share with key stakeholders in preparation for your meetings to show them what audit does, and how we can help them.
Guidance / Blog
Read our blog post here for tips on building your audit strategy.
Supporting templates
Purchase this template to help build your internal audit strategy. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
Reviewing and understanding the organisation's strategy
Understanding the organisation's strategy is important to ensuring we develop a risk based annual plan which is aligned to the company's goals and objectives.
Guidance / Blog
Read our blog post here which explains why you should consider the organisation's strategy.
Supporting templates
Purchase this template to help guide your review of the organisation's strategy. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
Review external info
This is the biggest value add part of any annual planning exercise. By understanding what risks and challenges are facing you, your business, and other audit teams, you can prepare a forward thinking risk based audit plan.
We will post a blog post soon with a range of info to help you identify the hot topics for 2021 which you should consider.
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Join the chat!
Post your questions, comments, or suggestions here and help others through the annual planning process.
Welcome to your first week of Annual Planning. This week will be focused on the 'admin' side of things. There are three main activities we want to do:
Identify key stakeholders to engage with during the planning process.
Update the Audit Charter.
Update the Audit Universe.
Below you will find links to various bits and pieces to support you with these activities.
Identify Key Stakeholders
Ensuring you have spoken to all the relevant stakeholders is crucial to ensuring that all parts of the business and audit committee have been engaged throughout the planning process.
Guidance / Blog
Read our blog post here for tips on identifying key stakeholders.
Supporting templates
Purchase this template to help identify key stakeholders. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
Update the Audit Charter
The Audit Charter sets out the mission and objectives of the audit team. Whilst not critical to the planning process, it can help ensure that both the business and audit team are aligned and understand the role, purpose and objectives of the audit team.
Guidance / Blog
Read our blog post here on why an Audit Charter is important.
Supporting templates
Purchase this template if you need a new audit charter. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
Update the Audit Universe
The Audit Charter sets out the mission and objectives of the audit team. Whilst not critical to the planning process, it can help ensure that both the business and audit team are aligned and understand the role, purpose and objectives of the audit team.
Guidance / Blog
Read our blog post here on how to build and maintain your audit universe.
Supporting templates
Purchase this template if you need a new audit universe. Please note: This template is included in the complete set of Annual Planning Templates.
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Join the chat!
Post your questions, comments, or suggestions here and help others through the annual planning process.
Our Annual Planning Calendar
Over the next month and a bit, we will be providing you with updates to help you complete your annual plan in a timely manner. This is the calendar / timeline we will be working towards.
if you haven't already, we strongly recommend you purchase our set of Annual Planning templates here, as they will support you through this process.