{"id":983,"date":"2020-04-08T16:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alminawi.com\/?p=983"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:21:07","slug":"tts-series-f-internal-audit-reporting-communication-episode-f7-executive-summaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/?p=983","title":{"rendered":"T&#038;Ts Series F, Internal Audit, Reporting &#038; Communication, Episode F7\u2014 Executive Summaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"159\" data-end=\"605\"><strong data-start=\"159\" data-end=\"176\">Introduction:<\/strong><br \/>\nExecutive summaries are concise, high-level overviews of audit findings and conclusions. They serve senior management, such as CEOs and audit committees, by summarizing the most critical outcomes of an internal audit engagement. An effective executive summary communicates the objective, scope, key findings, associated risks, recommendations, and next steps in under one page or slide\u2014often using bullet points and visual cues.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"607\" data-end=\"817\">Executive summaries are especially valuable for stakeholders who do not have the time or need to read a full audit report but must understand the essentials to make informed decisions or prioritize remediation.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"819\" data-end=\"822\" \/>\n<p data-start=\"824\" data-end=\"1016\"><strong data-start=\"824\" data-end=\"847\">Suggested Template:<\/strong><br \/>\nA practical executive summary can be created using Microsoft PowerPoint (or Excel\/Word, depending on format preference). A typical one-slide executive summary includes:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1018\" data-end=\"1193\">\n<li data-start=\"1018\" data-end=\"1047\">\n<p data-start=\"1020\" data-end=\"1047\"><strong data-start=\"1020\" data-end=\"1047\">Audit Objective &amp; Scope<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1048\" data-end=\"1088\">\n<p data-start=\"1050\" data-end=\"1088\"><strong data-start=\"1050\" data-end=\"1088\">Key Findings (usually 3\u20135 maximum)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1089\" data-end=\"1127\">\n<p data-start=\"1091\" data-end=\"1127\"><strong data-start=\"1091\" data-end=\"1127\">Risk Ratings (High, Medium, Low)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1128\" data-end=\"1157\">\n<p data-start=\"1130\" data-end=\"1157\"><strong data-start=\"1130\" data-end=\"1157\">Recommendations Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1158\" data-end=\"1193\">\n<p data-start=\"1160\" data-end=\"1193\"><strong data-start=\"1160\" data-end=\"1193\">Next Steps &amp; Action Deadlines<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1195\" data-end=\"1240\">Apps that work well for this purpose include:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1241\" data-end=\"1458\">\n<li data-start=\"1241\" data-end=\"1307\">\n<p data-start=\"1243\" data-end=\"1307\"><strong data-start=\"1243\" data-end=\"1257\">PowerPoint<\/strong> \u2013 Best for presenting during leadership meetings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1308\" data-end=\"1365\">\n<p data-start=\"1310\" data-end=\"1365\"><strong data-start=\"1310\" data-end=\"1318\">Word<\/strong> \u2013 Great for inclusion in formal audit reports.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1366\" data-end=\"1458\">\n<p data-start=\"1368\" data-end=\"1458\"><strong data-start=\"1368\" data-end=\"1377\">Excel<\/strong> \u2013 Helpful when you want to dynamically link findings to risk or action trackers.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr data-start=\"1460\" data-end=\"1463\" \/>\n<p data-start=\"1465\" data-end=\"1491\"><strong data-start=\"1465\" data-end=\"1491\">Practical Application:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1493\" data-end=\"1843\">At ACME Corporation, Internal Auditor Auren completed a Q2 2025 audit on Expense Management and IT Access Controls. Auren was tasked by Project Manager Aven to deliver a concise update to CEO Liora and the executive team. Rather than submitting the full 30-page report, Auren crafted a one-slide PowerPoint executive summary capturing the essentials:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1845\" data-end=\"2544\">\n<li data-start=\"1845\" data-end=\"1969\">\n<p data-start=\"1847\" data-end=\"1969\"><strong data-start=\"1847\" data-end=\"1860\">Objective<\/strong>: Evaluate compliance and operational effectiveness in employee expense reimbursement and user access rights.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1970\" data-end=\"1999\">\n<p data-start=\"1972\" data-end=\"1999\"><strong data-start=\"1972\" data-end=\"1981\">Scope<\/strong>: April\u2013June 2025.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2000\" data-end=\"2243\">\n<p data-start=\"2002\" data-end=\"2019\"><strong data-start=\"2002\" data-end=\"2018\">Key Findings<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ol data-start=\"2022\" data-end=\"2243\">\n<li data-start=\"2022\" data-end=\"2096\">\n<p data-start=\"2025\" data-end=\"2096\">Expense reimbursements lack a proper approval workflow (<strong data-start=\"2081\" data-end=\"2094\">High Risk<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2099\" data-end=\"2184\">\n<p data-start=\"2102\" data-end=\"2184\">Multiple employees retained access to systems after offboarding (<strong data-start=\"2167\" data-end=\"2182\">Medium Risk<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2187\" data-end=\"2243\">\n<p data-start=\"2190\" data-end=\"2243\">No formalized process for IT backups (<strong data-start=\"2228\" data-end=\"2241\">High Risk<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2245\" data-end=\"2397\">\n<p data-start=\"2247\" data-end=\"2267\"><strong data-start=\"2247\" data-end=\"2266\">Recommendations<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"2270\" data-end=\"2397\">\n<li data-start=\"2270\" data-end=\"2310\">\n<p data-start=\"2272\" data-end=\"2310\">Automate the expense approval process.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2313\" data-end=\"2350\">\n<p data-start=\"2315\" data-end=\"2350\">Implement quarterly access reviews.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2353\" data-end=\"2397\">\n<p data-start=\"2355\" data-end=\"2397\">Document and enforce IT backup procedures.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2399\" data-end=\"2544\">\n<p data-start=\"2401\" data-end=\"2416\"><strong data-start=\"2401\" data-end=\"2415\">Next Steps<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"2419\" data-end=\"2544\">\n<li data-start=\"2419\" data-end=\"2467\">\n<p data-start=\"2421\" data-end=\"2467\">Action plans to be submitted by July 31, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2470\" data-end=\"2544\">\n<p data-start=\"2472\" data-end=\"2544\">Monthly tracking by Audit Office in collaboration with Department Heads.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"2546\" data-end=\"2728\">CEO Liora appreciated the clear summary and used it to drive immediate action during the management meeting. Auren later attached the slide as an appendix to the formal audit report.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction: Executive summaries are concise, high-level overviews of audit findings and conclusions. They serve senior management, such as CEOs and audit committees, by summarizing the most critical outcomes of an internal audit engagement. An effective executive summary communicates the objective, scope, key findings, associated risks, recommendations, and next steps in under one page or slide\u2014often [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835,"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-983","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\/06\/GIF-15.gif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","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=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1287,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions\/1287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.americanpro.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}