PROJECT AUDITING
Project Audit
• A formal review of any aspect of a project.
• An audit is a systematic, independent, documented
assessment using standards and set criteria .
Purpose & Goals
•Efficiency in meeting both the budget and the schedule
•Customer impacUsatisfaction
•Business/direct success
•Future potential
The Project Audit- Approach
• The main purpose of an audit is to help achieve the goals of the
project
• All facets of the project are studied
• The strengths and weaknesses are identified
• Recommendations are prepared to help current and future
projects
Project auditing
• Project auditing can be defined as the process of detailed inspection of
the management of a project, its methodology , its techniques, its
procedures , its documents, its properties, its budgets, its expenses and
its level of completion.
• Project auditing can help you assess the current state of a project, and
tells you if your project management processes are being followed.
Benefits
• A project audit provides an opportunity to uncover the issues,
concerns and challenges encounter ed in the execution of a
project.
• If done at the close of a project, a project audit can be used to
develop success criteria for future projects by providing a
forensic review.
Depth of the Audit
• Time and money limit the depth of an audit
• Audits are distracting to those working on the project
• A poor audit result will lower morale on the project
Types of Audits
• General Audit
• Detailed Audit
• Technical Audit
Timing of the Audit
• All significant projects should be audited
• Larger projects may be audited several times
• An audit may also be conducted after the project is over (post-
project audits)
Format and Use of the Audit Report
1. It should facilitate the comparison of actual versus predicted
results
2. Significant deviations should be highlighted
3. Reasons for significant deviations should be given
4. Plans for resolving negative deviations should be discussed
Audit Information
1. Introduction
2. Current status
3. Future project status
4. Critical management issues
s. Risk management
6. Caveats, limitations, and assumptions
Responsibilities of the Project Auditor
• Be honest and ethical
• Be independent
• Tell the whole truth
• Seek help for technical issues
The Project Audit Life Cycle
• Project audit initiation
• Project baseline definition
• Establishing an audit database
• Preliminary analysis of the project
• Audit report preparation
• Project audit termination
Some Essentials of an Audit/Evaluation
• Need to select an audit team with experience and expertise
• Auditors need access to top management
• Auditors need access to project personnel and others
• Auditors need access to all records
Three phases
• A project audit consists of three phases:
• Phase 1: Success Criteria and Questionnaire Development
• Phase 2: In-depth Research
• Phase 3: Report Development
Project Audit Recommendations
• Identify problems earlier
• Clarify scope , cost, and time relationships
• Improve performance
• Locate technological advances
• Evaluate quality
• Reduce costs
• Improve risk identification
The Project Audit-outcomes
• Current status of the project
• Expected status of the project
• Status of critical tasks
• An assessment of potential risks
• What lessons can be applied to other projects?
• What are the limitations of the audit?
Conclusion
• The of a project audit is to
purpose
identify "Lessons Learned"
that
help improve the performance of a project
can
or to improve the performance of future
projects by undertaking a forensic review to
uncover problems to be avoided.
