The Agile methodology can be used as a practical approach for conducting audits to promote digital business agility and effectively meet the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. By following this approach, the internal audit function can sustain a heightened awareness, make informed decisions and act promptly.
To facilitate a successful Agile audit implementation, there are several practical tips and guidelines for implementation:
- Establish clear expectations—Adopting new skills and practices requires extra effort and may result in objections and potential setbacks before achieving Agile maturity. Significant Agile maturity is expected within 2 to 3 years.
- Apply Agile in an Agile fashion—Auditors should begin with the fundamentals and iteratively progress. As experience accumulates, additional layers can be introduced until you attain Agile maturity.
- Customize the approach—There is no single Agile project management approach. Auditors should be open to customizing the methodology to suit the unique needs of their organization. While a daily session may not be found practical for traditional audits, it can demonstrate effectiveness in more intensive real-time audit scenarios.
- Conduct retrospective sessions—These sessions are used to collect valuable insights and learn from real hands-on experience.
- Manage feedback—The auditee feedback recipient list should be as compact as possible to support swift and effective sprint cycles. When senior executives join the audit feedback process during the later audit phases, it may decrease sprint effectiveness.
- Implement transparent and well-defined processes—This is the foundation for effective communication with the auditees. As sprint deliverables are presented in a report-style format, which resembles a final report, it is essential for auditors to clarify that the deliverables are not in their definitive form. Therefore, during this stage, auditees’ feedback can have an impact on the content of the deliverable.
- Coordinate sprints—Given the distinct nature of audits, sprints may be executed simultaneously. However, it is essential to coordinate sprint schedules to avoid an overwhelming delivery of sprints.
Agile is just one of the tools at the disposal of the internal audit function as it transforms to address the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Internal auditors should utilize Agile to keep the pace and adopt other advanced management methodologies and approaches to maintain relevance.
Editor’s note: For further insights on this topic, read Noam Koriat’s recent Journal article, “Future Ready: Toward a Sound Agile Audit Framework,” ISACA Journal, volume 5, 2023.
