You may have heard a lot about auditing and inspection from your colleagues or boss. It is one of the frequently heard names that we usually encounter in the corporate world. Those who know it often assume it to be only related to finances. However, the auditing world is immense, catering to various industries, like healthcare, logistics, transportation and construction. The data reporting audit enables organisations to perform better in the future by keeping a thorough check and balance on the quality, process, and outcomes.

In a world where tech advancement has left everyone in awe, it has become vital for companies to examine their internal operations and work methods. Many companies neglected significant areas that were considered less important when they started the process or helped achieve success. Although auditing was at first done on paper where all the results were recorded to compare in the future, it became a hassle to maintain them. Thus, companies moved towards the auditing apps that kick started an era of digitalisation. Though audit is essential for a company, a few departments need the most attention.

What is a data reporting audit?

Let’s focus on data reporting first before moving towards its auditing because if you can’t understand its functions, you will not be able to understand its importance. Data reporting refers to the collection and formatting of raw data from various sources that is translated into a simple format to examine a company’s existing performance. These reports are important for any organisation as they answer the basic questions about a company. You can check your business status regarding any information or the tools used in the process. In simple words, it is a report having the facts and figures recorded.

The data here summarises all the financial information like profits, revenues, accounts payable, etc. In short, it summarises a company’s financial health. The data here guides higher management about the grey areas in the company and the departments that need more attention, time or resources. A data reporting audit becomes essential to detect errors or risks and take proactive action against the highlighted areas. These reports have saved companies from going into losses. Auditing here simply collects the data, analyses and compares the patterns to detect issues. It even assigns tasks to the concerned departments if any mistakes get identified.

Most data audits assess the data quality throughout the complete procedure to ensure accuracy. Further, the auditors measure the data performance and identify issues for remediation, leading to better data quality. This leads to optimised productivity and performance.

3 Key Functions of Data Auditing

Auditing has become the core business process that ensures all the following procedures are accurate. Data is one of the crucial parts of any business that leverages higher management to make better decisions. Thus, data reporting audit underpins every data-related task. Companies focus on gaining insights into its quality, usage, performance and security to power operations. However, we will summarise it into three main reasons organisations need to conduct data auditing.

  • Quality

A company’s data is the most important part of making informed decisions that can optimise productivity while creating a competitive advantage. The data audit identifies inaccurate data and its causes to achieve greater success and mitigate risks. It enables companies to remediate problems by implementing the operations.

  • Compliance

Another reason for auditing the data is strictly following the business, industry and government rules by focusing on more profound insights into its location, security and usage. 

  • Operations

All the industries, from human resources, sales to marketing, etc., emphasise data reporting audits to improve the data quality. It is done to run smooth operations throughout the year. It leads to higher performance and more customer demand, leading to higher profits in the long run.

13 Benefits of Data Reporting Audit

  • Data auditing safeguards the data assets
  • It ensures seamless data access controls
  • It identifies the systematic data
  • Detects unauthorised data access at any time
  • Improves the quality of data in real-time
  • Highlights the policy flaws that can lead to vulnerabilities
  • It improves internal processes related to data
  • Leverages forensic analysis for detecting frauds, risks and threats more efficiently.
  • Boosts effective data analytics
  • The audit boosts quick responses to issues related to data
  • Companies can leverage risk assessment
  • IT helps review third-party operations.
  • Checks compliance with all the rules and regulations

Automate Your Data Auditing

Companies have moved from the traditional paper-based auditing system to digital audits in a technologically advanced era. Digitalisation boomed overnight to help businesses place their brands online, letting customers enjoy all the benefits. However, it eases the entire assessment process that got messy with the paperwork in the case of audits. Here, the data reporting audit uses mobile apps to automate repetitive tasks that took a lot of time in the previous days, leading to high costs. It was necessary to say yes to digital audits to reduce their impact.

Here the automation of data auditing speeds up the evaluation process of the data quality, ensuring accuracy and consistency at all times. The software creates workflows or checklists, helping firms to conduct regular audits on their own. It classifies all the data elements, increases the use of metadata connectors, removes manual processes that lead to errors, and enhances stakeholder satisfaction. It even allows auditors to customise the dashboards with templates depending on the industry it’s catering to. Since everything is digitalised and automated, it becomes equally important to attach proof as many people worldwide still do not believe in the technological revolution. Therefore, you can add multiple pictures and videos as proof for higher management.

Summary

Data reporting audit is no longer a new term for people. Data has always been the key deciding factor in any implementation or integration of technology. Since extensive data is present from different sources, organisations need to examine it before making decisions. Here the data accuracy and reliability come into question. Therefore, an audit is necessary to ensure compliance and security while maintaining its quality to make strategic decisions.