Drawing up an audit plan: period, scope, resources

An audit without a plan usually starts with "we'll look at everything", and three weeks later nobody can say exactly what was checked and what was not. Before work begins, the plan answers four questions: why are we checking, which period, which area, and who does it in how much time. When those answers are written down, the audit moves faster and the outcome is clear.

State the objective precisely

The objective is not "check the warehouse". Concrete examples:

• find the main cause of a shortage;
• confirm the value of stock for a bank or partner;
• record the position before handing over to a new manager;
• clean up balances before moving from 1C to a new system.

Everything depends on the objective. If you are hunting for the cause of a shortage, receiving and dispatch documents are examined in depth. If the check is for a bank, counting and valuation come to the front. If you cannot write the objective in one sentence, the plan is not ready. The objective also shapes the output: a confirmed stock statement for a bank, an analysis of causes and recommendations for management.

Period: which dates are examined

Separate two dates: the count date (the day on which balances are counted) and the review period (say, receipts and issues over the last 12 months). On the count date documents must be "closed": goods that arrive or leave afterwards must not touch the balance for that date. If the count date is 30 June, for example, the delivery note for a load that arrived on 1 July must not fall into that date, and shipments of 28–29 June must be fully documented. Otherwise a truck still on the road, or a returned item, can distort the whole picture. The length of the period depends on risk: where there are suspicions, take a longer stretch; for an ordinary warehouse 6–12 months is enough.

Scope: what we check and what we do not

Scope covers not just physical areas but processes: receiving, storage, picking, returns, write-offs and the accounting system. Write down what is excluded as well, such as another company's goods held on consignment or a rented external warehouse. Otherwise a dispute follows the audit: "why didn't you look at this?".

Choose scope by risk. First come the most valuable goods, items whose balances are often corrected by hand, and areas where a new employee works. This is what a risk-based plan means: effort goes where it matters most.

Resources and time

The arithmetic is simple: divide the number of items to be counted by one team's hourly rate. Say there are 6,000 items and a team counts 150 an hour on average. One team then needs 40 hours, two teams about 20, which is 2–3 working days. Allow two or three more days before the count for preparation: splitting goods into zones, attaching labels, sorting mixed pallets. Add recounts, analysis of discrepancies and writing the report, which often take longer than the count itself.

Put into the plan the number of auditors, the contact person at the warehouse, access to documents and the accounting system, and whether the warehouse stops during the count. If it does not stop, work has to go zone by zone in turn.

What the plan contains: a checklist

1. Objective and type of audit.
2. Period and count date.
3. Scope and excluded items.
4. Main risks and priority items.
5. Team composition and division of tasks.
6. Schedule: work by day and the report date.
7. List of documents and access needed.
8. Confidentiality and data handling rules.

It works best when the plan is agreed with the warehouse manager and signed by both sides: then the boundaries do not creep during the work, and new requests are discussed separately. Typical mistakes are a "general check" with no objective, a count date that does not match the closing of documents, a scope that is too wide and no advance warning to warehouse staff.

Conclusion

A good plan is half the audit. It saves unnecessary work, helps you avoid missing something important and gives a yardstick for judging the result. OmborAudit starts every review with a site visit and a written work plan.