Measuring Audit Results

Auditors regularly measure results of programs and services and also critique the agency's performance measures. Because of this, I have always published an annual report for my office that includes key measures such as reports per FTE, implementation rate, and hours per audit. If we require our agency to report performance, it makes sense that the audit office should also report. One measure I struggle with is outcome. What was the effect of our audits? The most common measure I have seen in other audit offices is annual savings attributed to audits. Since my office conducts performance audits, often we cannot measure cost savings. Generally, recommendations are directed towards improving effectiveness.

I have commented previously on what I consider to be similarities between the fields of journalism and auditing. An Oregonian article last Saturday about last minute legislative action included a sidebar that linked new laws to the Oregonian's investigative reporting. I think that this might offer a potential solution to measuring the effect of audits. Perhaps I can document concrete action taken by a Department or the Council that can be linked to audit findings. So, rather than cost savings, maybe I could categorize actions attributed to audit findings and then quantify them.