Prioritizing Audit Selection

Every auditor knows that good ideas for audits come from everywhere. The challenge is not finding topics but deciding which ones to pursue first. A well-structured approach to prioritizing audit selection helps ensure that limited resources are focused on the areas that matter most to the organization, the public, and the mission.

Audit ideas can flow in from three main sources: staff suggestions, agency management or oversight body, and the office’s risk assessment process. Each source offers unique value. Audit staff are on the ground and often identify process inefficiencies, control gaps, or emerging risks that may not appear in high-level risk assessments. Their day-to-day exposure to program operations can uncover issues early. Encouraging staff to submit ideas helps foster ownership and engagement across the office.

Agency management, on the other hand, brings a perspective shaped by operational priorities and strategic challenges. Requests from management may highlight programs facing external scrutiny, upcoming changes, or new funding streams. While management-driven topics can help build relationships and increase audit impact, they should still be evaluated against objective criteria to ensure alignment with the office’s independence and mission.

Finally, the office’s formal risk assessment provides a structured, data-driven foundation for audit selection. By analyzing factors such as dollar exposure, prior findings, public visibility, and internal control maturity, risk assessments help identify where the potential for waste, fraud, or inefficiency is greatest. This process helps balance the more subjective or reactive ideas from staff and management.

The most effective audit offices use a transparent scoring or ranking process to weigh all ideas, considering factors such as risk level, potential impact, auditability, and resource needs. They document their reasoning and communicate it clearly to both staff and leadership. This not only strengthens audit planning but also builds trust in the process.

Prioritizing audit selection is not about rejecting good ideas, its about ensuring that every audit adds value and contributes to oversight where it is needed most. By balancing insights from staff, requests from management, and results from the risk assessment, audit leaders can create a portfolio that reflects both responsiveness and strategic foresight.