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Instructions
The main audit question should be:
Centred around a few key risks
...based on the assessment of the most significant risks to the achievement of sound financial management in the area. The audit should preferably be concentrated on one or a couple of the major risks identified.
Indicative of the approach
...comprising the audit approach one wants to pursue in the audit. This may be either examination of control systems, direct examination of performance, problem-oriented audit or a combination thereof.
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- examining control systems: Did the Commission's management systems and procedures permit a sufficiently rapid and appropriate response to the Tsunami disaster?
- examining performance directly: Has the Community humanitarian aid programme responded to rapid-onset disasters sufficiently quickly, with appropriate resources and donor coordination?
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Concise
...expressed in the fewest possible words. It should identify the audit subject (e.g. programme, policy or DG), but it should not duplicate the information that is typically found in the [link title="audit%20scope" link="%2Faware%2FPA%2FPages%2FPlanning%2FDetailed-planning.aspx%23Set-the-audit-scope" /]
definition (e.g. period, co-financing, management responsibility). If the questions get too long and complex, the risk is that they become ambiguous or difficult to comprehend.
Answerable
It should be possible to conclude against the main audit question by collecting, analysing and interpreting [link title="data" link="%2Faware%2FGAP%2FPages%2FAudit-evidence.aspx" /]
. Limitations can include data collection and data analysis methods.
Focussed
...narrow enough that it can be answered thoroughly and convincingly within [link title="13%20months" link="%2Faware%2FGAP%2FPages%2FStandard-timeframes.aspx" /]
(from task plan approval to approval of the [link title="APC%20version" link="%2Faware%2FPA%2FPages%2FReporting%2FApproval-publication-discharge.aspx%23After-the-adversarial-procedure" /]
) and the times and resources specified in the Annual Work Programme. Ideally, the subject of the audit will, as far as possible, comprise individual policy area or components thereof, such as one or more activities as defined in the [link new-window title="EU%20budget" link="https%3A%2F%2Feur-lex.europa.eu%2Fbudget%2Fwww%2Findex-en.htm" icon="external-link" /]
or individual operations such as an EU Agency.
In many cases the scope of the audit can be one or a combination of any two of the 3Es, but is unlikely to include all three.
Relevant
...comprising a topic that is of relevance, i.e. the area is [link title="financially%20significant" link="%2Faware%2FPA%2FPages%2FPlanning%2FUnderstanding-audit-area.aspx%23Materiality" /]
and/or there is public or political interest in aspects we will audit; it has [link title="not%20been%20audited" link="%2Faware%2FPA%2FPages%2FPlanning%2FUnderstanding-audit-area.aspx%23Previousaudit" /]
recently by the ECA or other auditors; there is potential to [link title="contribute%20significantly%20to%20improved%20financial%20management" link="%2Faware%2FGAP%2FPages%2FRecommendations.aspx" /]
; and the audit is to be carried out when it is most likely to have a [link title="significant%20impact" link="%2Faware%2FPA%2FPages%2FPlanning%2FDetailed-planning.aspx%23Consider-the-likely-outcome-of-the-audit" /]
and it is not likely to be overtaken by events, due to political or administrative aspects, e.g. new laws, planned reforms.
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[standards]
[link new-window title="ISSAI%20300%2F25-26%2C33" link="https%3a%2f%2fwww.issai.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2019%2f08%2fISSAI-300.pdf%23page%3D14" /]
[link new-window title="GUID%203920%2F24-30" link="https%3a%2f%2fwww.issai.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2019%2f08%2fGUID-3920-The-Performance-Auditing-Process.pdf%23page%3D14" /]
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