Criteria for Operational Auditing

This article looks at the criteria held to be essential for any type of auditing, i.e. comparing “what was” with “what should be”. However, in operational auditing this is not a clear cut distinction. An approach to the identification and evaluation of criteria for evaluating effectiveness and efficiency is outlined. Auditors must agree with managers what operations are intended to accomplish and how they judge performance; planning and control systems may be a focal point in monitoring performance but other organisational data may need to be sought. Formal performance standards may need to be established and the reliability of data must be checked.