Internal Audit teams can improve in many ways.

Each team's path to improvement is unique—shaped by its size, maturity, industry, and scope of responsibilities.

However, there's one universal practice that helps all Internal Audit teams identify opportunities for improvement and growth: collecting customer feedback - through post-audit exit surveys.

As a former CAE, I implemented post-audit surveys after every audit and project to gather independent feedback on internal audit's effectiveness throughout the engagement.

The responses proved invaluable. They offered coaching opportunities for our team and provided insights into the effectiveness of our internal audit process. The feedback helped evaluate my performance as CAE in proposing and executing projects that addressed key organizational risks. Furthermore, when the team focused on achieving high scores across all survey questions, it drove improvements in the Internal Audit's key performance indicators reported to the Audit Committee.

In this article, I'll share key insights about implementing post-audit exit surveys: the process to follow, essential questions to include, and important considerations for maximizing their effectiveness.

Process

Post-audit exit surveys are best sent to the key point of contact of your audit within one week of the final audit report being issued. The key point of contact should be the highest level leader that was included in your daily status updates, and the person that was the final arbiter when there were differences on how the process audited is performed.

The survey would be sent to our key point of contact(s) requesting feedback on the audit, focusing on specific areas, including:

• team’s professionalism
• timeliness of deliverables
• minimization of disruptions
• clarity of our communication
• accuracy of the final audit report
• reasonableness of the audit scope
• the overall value the audit provided
• proficiency of subject matter expertise

Feedback can be collected in two ways: through a numerical rating scale where audit customers evaluate the team's performance, and through written comments.

I used a rating scale of 1–5, with 1 representing "strongly disagree" and 5 representing "strongly agree".

I also included a free text field at the bottom of the survey where audit customers could share their direct thoughts on the team's performance, separate from the specific questions. Beyond the typical "thank yous" and "job well done" responses, this open-ended feedback proved to be the most valuable.

The free text feedback proved so valuable that, in hindsight, I would have included open-ended comment fields for every question alongside the numerical ratings.

I summarized the survey scores quarterly and included them in my Audit Committee package. These scores demonstrated to the Committee that our team conducted work professionally, maintained positive relationships, and consistently pursued improvement opportunities.

Questions

Various types of questions can provide valuable feedback for audit teams to improve. The key to creating an effective post-audit exit survey is simplicity—both in comprehension and response. Keep questions concise, aim for clear-cut responses, and organize them into logical categories.

I recommend categorizing the questions into four categories: People, Process, Technology, and Output & Value.

The number of questions should align with the engagement's length and the audit team's size and maturity. Longer audit projects warrant additional questions. Similarly, when a team uses extensive resources—such as external subject matter experts and advanced technologies—more detailed feedback through additional questions becomes appropriate.

Here are some examples of questions that can be used for each category:

‍People

1. The Internal Audit team demonstrated thorough knowledge of the audited area and understood its role in the organization's success.
2. The Internal Audit team demonstrated relevant subject matter expertise throughout the engagement.
3. The Internal Audit team maintained professional demeanor throughout the engagement and consistently delivered on their commitments.

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Process

1. The Internal Audit team's scope, objectives, and focus areas were relevant to my team's success.
2. The Internal Audit team communicated their process and requirements clearly, maintaining a pace that allowed our team sufficient time to participate effectively.
3. The audit was conducted efficiently and caused minimal disruption to operations.

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Technology

1. The Internal Audit team's use of technology provided valuable insights into my process and delivered a deeper level of assurance about its effectiveness.
2. The Internal Audit team's use of technology reduced the workload required from my team.

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Overall

1. The audit report was accurate, clear, and supported by evidence.
2. The identified issues, recommendations, and action plans directly contribute to improving both my team's performance and organizational success.
3. The audit provided meaningful value to your operations.
4. Overall, I was satisfied with the audit engagement and its execution.

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Considerations

Having covered the process and potential questions, let's explore key considerations that can enhance your survey's effectiveness and drive improvements in your Internal Audit team.

Based on conducting over 100 post-audit exit surveys, I've observed two consistent trends:

1. Audit survey scores tend to be lower when the audit report rating is lower
2. Different respondents interpret the rating scale differently—what one person rates as a "3" might be equivalent to another person's "5"

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These trends require additional context when reporting to senior leadership and the Audit Committee, especially for departments conducting fewer than 10–15 audits annually (as individual results can significantly skew the averages). Without proper context, Audit Committee discussions may focus on defending the scores rather than addressing valuable feedback and improvement opportunities.

If you need to address these trends, consider modifying your survey questions, providing clearer rating scale guidelines, or eliminating the rating scale in favor of written feedback.

Next, ensure alignment between your team members' individual performance expectations, audit survey results, and Internal Audit's KPIs.

To achieve this alignment, start by examining your company's overall goals and objectives. Then, map how Internal Audit supports these goals, measure progress through Internal Audit's KPIs, and connect post-audit exit survey results to both the KPIs and individual team member performance.

This clear alignment ensures your Internal Audit function and team members stay focused on the right activities, while improvement initiatives directly support Internal Audit's mission.

Finally, be vocal about the post-audit exit survey and its results. When explaining internal audit's process at the start of an audit project, have your team mention the survey to all involved. In my experience, this shows that Internal Audit has skin in the game with the audit customer and helps build the partnership needed for a successful audit.

To further strengthen this business partnership, Internal Audit leadership should share improvements implemented based on survey feedback. Sharing these changes with those who provided feedback will be well-received and help build Internal Audit's positive reputation within the business.