Traci Lee

Brian,
I hear what you are saying - I think it depends on the nature of the internal vs. external reports. Sometimes and internal audit is more comprehensive than an external which may focus only on a certain area of review and with limited sampling. To your point, sometimes the external require details to provide context but I have also seen some lengthy reports that had minimal substance. Volume does not substitute for solid content which report authors should consider when writing such reports.

Traci Lee

Brian Sholly

Ultimately, the final external report should be much longer and include a lot more information than a internal report. Internal reports function as what needs to be fixed to make things better. It provides some sort of game plan for the future. External reports, at least in my opinion, provide a detailed report for the company being audited and provide extra material for third parties to understand a company without knowing much about them.

Traci Lee

Carmen,

These vary by institution since these are internal vs. external guidelines.

Traci Lee