Audit software for credit unions can help your team drastically simplify your audit process. In fact, the increase in efficiency from using audit management tools usually translates to a 10–25% decrease in time to completion.

So, how does it accomplish that?

Well, there are two main areas of the audit process that software addresses.

Here’s what we’ve seen:

Audit Software Helps Credit Unions with Mechanics

When you first get a document request list, then it’s time to set your whole audit process in motion.

Managing the list is among your first priorities. You have to carefully determine:

• Who will work on the audit materials
• When each thing is due
• Best reviewing practices
• How to follow up

Already, managing the audit is a lot of work. And that’s just for the basics.

Communication and coordination are other difficult, manual aspects of the audit management process. Audit teams must stay in touch and up to date about:

• Document request items
• Due dates and delivery schedules
• Review

Then, the same processes repeat for any findings or recommendations.

All in all, there’s a lot of back and forth. Fortunately, the continual contact between audit team members is one area where credit union audit software adds a lot of structure. That robust structure is a major contributor to time savings.

Finally, credit unions are better able to track down and access older information.

For example, many audit questions are, shall we say, not very creative. Many auditors will ask about the same issues. If you see a question that you’ve already seen before, then the easiest way to answer it is to find the answer you already gave.

However, it’s not all that easy to find these older answers!

Credit unions we’ve spoken with have told us that finding older answers and information can get frustrating. Is the material on someone’s computer? Is it on a shared drive? Is it languishing in someone’s email inbox?

Audit software keeps all audit materials, documents, and communication in one central place. That makes things easy to find and just as easy to reference.

Software Helps the “Consumers” of Audits

By “consumers,” we mean the people who aren’t working on your audit, but who still need to know what’s going on. Consumers include people like your supervisory committee, your auditors, and your examiners.

For these groups, you have to prepare reporting. And, for your auditors, you need to provide a set of deliverables and accompanying reports as a result of your audit activities.

Perhaps not surprisingly, reporting is one of the more time-intensive aspects of any credit union audit. There’s a lot of detailed review that goes into this step. Software that eliminates some of the manual input can speed things along quickly.

Audit software can automate a lot of the reporting and delivery duties. The simplification of this process is one of the single largest ways that credit unions save time.

Further Reading and Audit Management Resources

We’ve been working hard to make sure that your credit union has all the tools it needs to successfully navigate any kind of audit. Recently, we produced a handy checklist to follow before, during, and after your credit union’s next audit.

You can also follow the links below to see some other helpful resources we’ve put together.

Happy auditing!

HOW THE NCUA AIRES QUESTIONNAIRES CAN HELP YOUR CREDIT UNION PREPARE FOR YOUR NEXT REGULATORY EXAMINATION

THE HIDDEN RISKS IN CREDIT UNION REGULATORY EXAMINATIONS — AND HOW TO AVOID THEM