What Is Audit Management? Process, Benefits and How to Boots Internal Audits

Audit management plays a central role in how organizations ensure effective governance, control risks, and meet growing compliance requirements. As regulatory pressure increases and business environments become more complex, internal audits are no longer isolated reviews — they are a continuous control mechanism.

In this guide, you will learn what audit management really means, how the audit process works from risk identification to follow-up, and why it is critical for modern GRC frameworks. We also explore the limitations of manual audits and show how digital GRC tools like ADOGRC help organizations professionalize their audit function and turn audit results into measurable improvements.

Audit management is the structured process of planning, executing, documenting, and following up on internal audits within an organization. Its main purpose is to ensure that risks, controls, and compliance requirements are regularly reviewed, weaknesses are identified early, and corrective actions are properly tracked to completion.

Unlike external audits, which are performed by independent third parties, internal audit management is carried out by in-house teams. It goes beyond financial reporting and typically covers areas such as operational efficiency, internal controls, IT risks, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance.

In practice, effective audit management connects risk assessment, audit execution, reporting, and follow-up into one continuous control cycle that supports both compliance and business performance.

Audit management plays a critical role in helping organizations operate with confidence in increasingly complex regulatory and risk environments. It provides independent assurance to executive management and the board that governance, risk management, and internal controls are working as intended.

When audit activities are structured and consistently followed through, organizations can:

• Detect weaknesses and control gaps early

• Reduce the likelihood of compliance violations and operational failures

• Improve process efficiency and reliability

• Strengthen transparency and accountability across business units

• Support better, risk-informed decision-making at management level

Importantly, audit management does not end with identifying findings. Its real value lies in ensuring that corrective actions are implemented, monitored, and verified over time. This follow-through is what turns audit results into measurable improvements.

Within a Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) framework, audit management acts as the link between risk identification, control effectiveness, and regulatory assurance. It validates whether controls designed under the risk and compliance functions actually work in practice.

By embedding audits into GRC:

• Risks are tested against real control performance

• Compliance gaps are detected before they become regulatory findings

• Responsibilities for remediation are clearly assigned and tracked

• Oversight becomes continuous rather than periodic

In this context, audit management becomes more than a review function — it becomes a core enforcement mechanism of the entire GRC system.

Audit management covers a wide range of audit types, each with a different purpose and focus. Understanding these differences is essential for building an effective, risk-based audit strategy within a GRC framework. In practice, organizations often combine several audit types to address cross-functional risks and complex regulatory requirements.

Each audit type contributes to a different layer of organizational assurance. While some focus on financial accuracy, others target operational performance, regulatory compliance, technology security, or third-party risk. Together, they form the backbone of an integrated audit management programme.

An effective audit management process follows a structured lifecycle that ensures audits are planned based on risk, executed consistently, and followed through until corrective actions are completed. While details may vary by organization, the core phases remain the same.

A typical internal audit process consists of six key phases: 

1. Risk Assessment & Audit Planning
   Identify and evaluate organizational risks. Use risk scores to define a risk-based audit universe and prioritize audit areas. 
2. Audit Preparation
   Outline the audit scope, define audit objectives, and create an audit plan. 
3. Fieldwork / Execution
   Conduct interviews, review documentation, and gather evidence through testing and observation. 
4. Findings & Recommendations
   Document observations, assess root causes, and propose corrective actions. 
5. Audit Reporting
   Consolidate findings and recommendations in a formal report to management. 
6. Follow-Up & Monitoring
   Track whether recommendations are implemented and assess their effectiveness through periodic follow-ups conducted at defined intervals.

The process starts with identifying and evaluating organizational risks. Based on risk severity, likelihood, and business impact, audit teams define a risk-based audit plan that prioritizes the areas that require the most attention. This ensures audit resources are used efficiently and focused on what matters most.

During preparation, the audit scope and objectives are clearly defined. Auditors determine which processes, controls, systems, and locations will be reviewed. Audit criteria, methodologies, timelines, and responsibilities are documented to ensure a structured and transparent audit execution.

In this phase, auditors carry out the audit activities. This includes conducting interviews, reviewing documentation, testing controls, and collecting evidence through observation and sampling. The goal is to assess whether controls are properly designed and operating effectively in practice.

All observations are documented and analyzed to identify root causes. Audit findings are classified based on risk and impact. For each finding, corrective actions and improvement recommendations are defined to address the underlying issues.

The results of the audit are consolidated into a formal audit report for management. This report outlines key findings, risk ratings, and recommended actions. It provides transparency to leadership and supports informed decision-making.

Follow-up is the most critical phase of the entire audit management process. Audit teams monitor whether corrective actions are implemented within agreed timelines and verify their effectiveness. Without this phase, audits remain theoretical and fail to deliver lasting value.

Overview of audit process

Manual audits might have been effective previously, but they are not scalable. As companies expand, all the paper records and Excel spreadsheets rapidly turn into obstacles for productivity and risk awareness.

Here's where manual audits fall short in practice:

Time-consuming processes:
Collecting evidence, drafting reports and analyzing data manually slows processes down. 

High risk of errors:
Manual data increases the probability of mistakes and inconsistencies. 

Lack of standardization:
Without uniform methods, audit quality can vary significantly. 

Unreliable documentation:
Missing files or incomplete audit trails hinder accountability and traceability. 

Limited visibility:
Siloed reports delay risk detection and resolution. 

Increasing costs:
Manual tasks require more time and resources. 

Compliance gaps:
Regulatory changes often keep spreadsheet-based systems out of date. 

Weak collaboration:
Without a central platform, teamwork and oversight suffer.

In many cases, these weaknesses turn internal audits into reactive exercises with limited long-term value.

With modern GRC tools like ADOGRC, internal audit teams adopt a more centralized and structured approach. This helps reduce manual effort and align audits with internal processes.

When audit activities are connected to risks and controls, teams gain immediate insight into where gaps exist and can respond without delay. Dashboards show progress and outcomes, making audit results visible across departments. This clarity also supports ongoing audit management by tracking execution and follow-up actions over time. The result is more reliable oversight and better coordination across the organization.

This foundation unlocks a range of improvements across how internal audits are planned, executed, and followed through in ADOGRC:

ADOGRC enables a more efficient audit process through capabilities such as:

• More automated audit workflows, including scheduling, notifications, task assignments, and follow-ups

• Streamlined planning, evidence collection, and reporting with reduced manual effort

• Centralized documentation that replaces spreadsheets and fragmented audit logs

• Dashboards showing real-time audit status, overdue tasks, and escalation levels

• Built-in workflow logic that links each audit step to roles, processes, and related data

• A structured view of all scheduled audits and responsible parties within the audit programme

Structured schedule of your audit programme

ADOGRC strengthens the connection between audits, risks, and controls by enabling:

• Integration of audits with compliance library, allowing internal auditors to test controls directly against compliance requirements

• Real-time visibility into compliance gaps, making it easier to address issues without delay

• Direct access to control testing and execution data, supporting more accurate risk assessments during audits

Progress tracking of initiatives in ADOGRC

ADOGRC improves audit transparency and ensures responsible handling of findings through:

• Full audit trail tracking that logs all actions taken, including who performed them and when

• Dashboards that show the impact of corrective actions and make follow-up efforts traceable

• A dedicated ‘All pending actions’ section that provides users with a clear view of outstanding tasks

Progress tracking of initiatives in ADOGRC

ADOGRC enables internal audit teams and stakeholders to work with meaningful data by providing:

• Dashboards and reports that support better understanding of developments and reveal areas requiring attention

• Continuous monitoring capabilities that support risk-based auditing and early detection of deficiencies

• Visual analysis tools, including matrix and bubble charts, that support root cause analysis of findings and related actions

• KPI-based reports and real-time metrics that help optimize the audit programme and assess audit readiness

Data-Linked Risk Analysis Overview

ADOGRC supports consistent and scalable audit practices across the organization through:

• Support for a wide range of audit types, including internal, IT, compliance, and third-party/vendor audits

• A central regulation catalogue and scoped inventories that enable reusable audit planning at scale

• Scenario-specific extensions such as BCM or DORA audits, with predefined object types and DORA-compliant report exports via REST-XLS_Reports to meet governance requirements

ADOGRC improves cross-functional coordination by providing:

• A centralized platform for internal auditors and compliance teams to work in one shared environment

• Workflow-driven collaboration that ensures findings reach the right stakeholders – with built-in follow-up support

• Integration with process, function, and application objects to ensure seamless context sharing between audit and business views

ADOGRC supports structured follow-up by turning audit results into actionable outcomes:

• Findings can be directly converted into tracked actions with due dates, responsibilities, and completion metrics

• A centralized overview of all findings simplifies the monitoring of remediation progress and effectiveness

Organizations using tools like ADOGRC report up to 40% shorter audit cycles and twice as fast resolution of findings compared to manual methods.

Audit management is a critical function for ensuring effective governance, risk control, and regulatory compliance. When managed in a structured and digital way, audits shift from reactive checks to a continuous control mechanism that strengthens transparency, accountability, and decision-making.

By using GRC tools to manage audits end to end, organizations can run audits faster, track findings reliably, and ensure that corrective actions are implemented on time — turning audit management into a real driver of control and business resilience.

References:

MetricStream. (n.d.). What is GRC audit? A detailed guide for 2025. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://www.metricstream.com/learn/grc-audit-guide.html

Sprinto. (2024, October). GRC audit: Key areas, checklist & preparation tips. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://sprinto.com/blog/grc-audit/

OCEG. (2024). What is an audit? A GRC guide to internal audit, IT audit, business assurance, and more. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://www.oceg.org/it-audit-and-assurance-guide-grc/

GRC 20/20 Research. (n.d.). Audit management & analytics. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://grc2020.com/product-category/grc-functional-area/audit-management-analytics/

RSI Security. (2022, November 15). What is a GRC audit and how does it work? Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://blog.rsisecurity.com/what-is-a-grc-audit-and-how-does-it-work/