Taking the Pain Out of Audit Readiness
By Sese Bennett
October 20, 2022
Preparing for audits is no small task. Whether it is a single small audit or multiple enterprise audits, it’s a grueling process. It can sap the strength out of any organization and lead to poor audit performance.
So, how do you prepare for an audit? Most organizations choose to pull resources from their existing job responsibilities or assign the audit to a project manager. As you can imagine, both of these approaches come with a level of impact that can tax your resources. So, let’s rephrase the question – How do you prepare for an audit in a way that benefits your organization?
The article below will discuss how to remove the pain from the audit preparedness process so that you can realize the benefits of a no-nonsense approach.
Audit Readiness - What is required?
Preparing for an audit involves several steps including reviewing your existing control status, scheduling resources, and collecting artifacts to satisfy evidence requests. How do you accomplish this while ensuring that you are adequately prepared to respond to the audit?
Re-assign Resources Approach
As mentioned previously, one approach is to re-assign existing resources to assist with the audit. While this approach can be successful, what impact will it have on your organization? Pulling resources from their daily job responsibilities can increase stress in the environment and lead to low-quality responses for your audit requests. Here are a few pros & cons for this approach.
Pros:
- Internal resources may be more familiar with the environment
- No need to bring in additional personnel
- A single point of contact for interviews, artifacts and follow-up (audit response)
- Audit resources are split between the audit and other responsibilities
- Additional tasks can stress resources leading to poor audit response
- If internal resources are siloed, they may not familiar with overall audit process
- Remediation efforts may conflict with assigned operational tasks
Project Management Approach
Another approach is to assign a project manager to head up your audit preparedness efforts. This approach is often successful in managing the timeline of the audit but may cause confusion due to the lack of familiarity with the technical aspects of audit requirements. One of the most prevalent evidence collection issues is that the evidence provided does not always match the evidence requested. This too can lead to frustration on the part of the audit team and the client causing delays and low-quality responses for audit requests. Here are a few additional pros & cons for this approach.
Pros:
- Project managers are excellent at keeping projects performing and on schedule
Cons:
- Project Managers may not be familiar with the technical aspects of the environment
- Project Managers may not be technically savvy enough to interpret evidence request properly
- Project Managers may not have the knowledge to validate evidence/artifacts properly
- Evidence collection and management may not a high priority for the overall project
Taking the Pain Out of Audit Readiness
Provincia Government Solutions takes the pain out of audit preparation by providing the best of both approaches. We provide you with a highly experienced audit coordinator that is focused on assisting your team with:
- Interpreting audit request
- Reviewing evidence artifacts for accuracy and applicability
- Scheduling appropriate resources for interviews and demonstrations
- Developing and documenting a repeatable readiness process
- Interfacing with your organization’s technical and project management resources
- Flexibility – readiness assistance on demand or as a continuous contractor member of your team
Next Steps
Are you ready for Provincia Government Solutions to help you? If so, reach out to our team and let’s talk. We can help you tackle the headache of audit readiness and put you are on the path to success!
Until then, be safe and stay secure!
About Us
Provincia Government Solutions, LLC is a Nashville based HUBZone certified security and risk assurance firm with advanced expertise in government regulatory and compliance cybersecurity requirements including NIST, FISMA, CMMC, SCA, 800-171, TRICARE, MARS-E and ZTA (Zero Trust Architecture) solutions. Our client base includes government agencies, contractors, and commercial organizations affiliated with government entities. Whether you are seeking audit preparedness, compliance and assurance assessments, security consulting, or CMMC certification, we have the expertise to help. Contact us at (615) 807-2822 or at info@provincia.io to discuss your security needs today. Consultations are free of charge and we look forward to speaking with you!
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ABOUT US
Provincia Government Solutions is a SBA certified Small Business cybersecurity assurance firm and a CMMC Certified Third Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO). We were the first organization to become a C3PAO in the Middle Tennessee (Nashville) area and provide a full range of services including CMMC consulting and certification assessments. Our assessment team is trained in CMMC and other government assessment disciplines and we are experienced working with organizations of all sizes. Please reach out with any cybersecurity or CMMC related inquiries. We look forward to speaking with you!
