{"id":916,"date":"2020-03-02T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T14:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alminawi.com\/?p=916"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:21:09","slug":"tts-series-e-internal-audit-evaluation-conclusion-techniques-episode-01-gap-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/?p=916","title":{"rendered":"SKU.4011_Internal Audit, Evaluation &amp; Conclusion Techniques, Gap Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"97\" data-end=\"611\"><strong data-start=\"97\" data-end=\"135\">Introduction to the Tool\/Technique<\/strong><br data-start=\"135\" data-end=\"138\" \/>Gap analysis is a technique used in internal audit to compare an organization&#8217;s current performance or controls against a desired standard\u2014whether that&#8217;s a policy, regulation, or best practice. This tool helps auditors highlight discrepancies (gaps) between what is and what should be, paving the way for actionable recommendations. It\u2019s often used in the evaluation and conclusion phase of an audit, where findings must be distilled into root causes and improvement areas.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"613\" data-end=\"800\"><strong data-start=\"613\" data-end=\"670\">Template: <a href=\"https:\/\/americanpro.org\/?product=sku-4011_internal-audit-evaluation-conclusion-techniques-gap-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SKU.4011_Internal Audit, Evaluation &amp; Conclusion Techniques, Gap Analysis<\/a><\/strong><br data-start=\"670\" data-end=\"673\" \/>A practical way to conduct and document a gap analysis is through an Excel-based <em data-start=\"754\" data-end=\"775\">Gap Analysis Matrix<\/em>. This template includes:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"801\" data-end=\"1316\">\n<li data-start=\"801\" data-end=\"883\">\n<p data-start=\"803\" data-end=\"883\"><strong data-start=\"803\" data-end=\"819\">Process Area<\/strong>: The area under review (e.g., procurement, payroll, IT access).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"884\" data-end=\"963\">\n<p data-start=\"886\" data-end=\"963\"><strong data-start=\"886\" data-end=\"907\">Expected Standard<\/strong>: The benchmark or policy that defines what \u201cshould be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"964\" data-end=\"1024\">\n<p data-start=\"966\" data-end=\"1024\"><strong data-start=\"966\" data-end=\"983\">Current State<\/strong>: What is actually happening in practice.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1025\" data-end=\"1075\">\n<p data-start=\"1027\" data-end=\"1075\"><strong data-start=\"1027\" data-end=\"1045\">Gap Identified<\/strong>: Description of the mismatch.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1076\" data-end=\"1123\">\n<p data-start=\"1078\" data-end=\"1123\"><strong data-start=\"1078\" data-end=\"1092\">Root Cause<\/strong>: Reason for the gap, if known.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1124\" data-end=\"1177\">\n<p data-start=\"1126\" data-end=\"1177\"><strong data-start=\"1126\" data-end=\"1141\">Risk\/Impact<\/strong>: Potential consequences of the gap.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1178\" data-end=\"1241\">\n<p data-start=\"1180\" data-end=\"1241\"><strong data-start=\"1180\" data-end=\"1198\">Recommendation<\/strong>: What should be done to address the issue.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1242\" data-end=\"1316\">\n<p data-start=\"1244\" data-end=\"1316\"><strong data-start=\"1244\" data-end=\"1266\">Responsible Person<\/strong> and <strong data-start=\"1271\" data-end=\"1286\">Target Date<\/strong>: Accountability and timeline.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1318\" data-end=\"1643\"><strong data-start=\"1318\" data-end=\"1376\">Application Example at ACME Corp.<\/strong><br data-start=\"1376\" data-end=\"1379\" \/>During a procurement process audit at ACME Corp., Internal Auditor Auren was asked by CEO Liora to ensure procurement practices were transparent and aligned with good governance. Project Manager Aven suspected that informal vendor selections were driving costs up.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1645\" data-end=\"1992\">Auren used the Gap Analysis Matrix to evaluate vendor selection practices. He discovered that although ACME\u2019s policy required at least three vendor quotations per purchase, most procurement decisions were made based on single informal quotes. Interviews with staff revealed that no formal policy document existed, and there was a lack of training.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1994\" data-end=\"2039\">Auren documented the following in the matrix:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"2040\" data-end=\"2372\">\n<li data-start=\"2040\" data-end=\"2097\">\n<p data-start=\"2042\" data-end=\"2097\"><strong data-start=\"2042\" data-end=\"2049\">Gap<\/strong>: Competitive bidding not consistently followed.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2098\" data-end=\"2159\">\n<p data-start=\"2100\" data-end=\"2159\"><strong data-start=\"2100\" data-end=\"2114\">Root Cause<\/strong>: No formal procurement policy or monitoring.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2160\" data-end=\"2224\">\n<p data-start=\"2162\" data-end=\"2224\"><strong data-start=\"2162\" data-end=\"2172\">Impact<\/strong>: Increased risk of favoritism and unnecessary cost.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2225\" data-end=\"2372\">\n<p data-start=\"2227\" data-end=\"2372\"><strong data-start=\"2227\" data-end=\"2245\">Recommendation<\/strong>: Draft and implement a formal procurement policy requiring at least three quotes per transaction, and train staff accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"2374\" data-end=\"2601\">Liora endorsed the recommendation and tasked Aven to roll out the policy within six weeks. The gap analysis not only pinpointed the issue but also guided leadership on corrective steps, improving control and cost-effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Template: <a href=\"https:\/\/americanpro.org\/?product=sku-4011_internal-audit-evaluation-conclusion-techniques-gap-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SKU.4011_Internal Audit, Evaluation &amp; Conclusion Techniques, Gap Analysis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to the Tool\/TechniqueGap analysis is a technique used in internal audit to compare an organization&#8217;s current performance or controls against a desired standard\u2014whether that&#8217;s a policy, regulation, or best practice. This tool helps auditors highlight discrepancies (gaps) between what is and what should be, paving the way for actionable recommendations. It\u2019s often used in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tt-internal-audit"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SKU.4013-2-scaled.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3090,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/3090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}