Executive Summaries for Audit Reports

August 2003

The executive summary provides readers with a short, complete document highlighting important information included in the detailed report. We create executive summaries because we assume that our readers don’t have the time to read our full report and we want to make sure they walk away with a few major ideas.

The executive summary contains a:

• Summary of 2 or 3 of the most important issues and recommendations
• Description of the significance of the issues and the significance of this report
• Summary of the client’s response to the recommendations
• Summary of the audit objective and scope

When you are done drafting an executive summary, evaluate:

• Does it meet the needs and consider the concerns of high-level decision makers?
  
  One of your audience’s most fundamental needs is brevity. The executive summary should be as short as possible. One page or less is ideal.
  
  
• Does the structure of the detailed section support the executive summary?
  
  The sequence of items in the detailed section must match the order in which they are presented in the executive summary. Otherwise the reader of the executive summary may become frustrated wading through the detail trying to pick up more information on important issues.
  
  
• Will it encourage readers to read the detailed section?
  
  Some think of the executive summary as a teaser… as something to entice the reader to open up the detailed section. In order to be enticing, the executive summary can quantify or put dollars with significant issues. An enticing executive summary also uses action titles and gets directly to major issues.
  
  
• Is the impact and significance of issues clearly stated?
  
  Do the issues sound theoretical or real? Is the language concrete or academic?
  
  Academic: Controls over cash should be improved
  
  Concrete: The accounting department does not perform cash reconciliations each month.
  
  Sometimes in order to save space, to cut the number of words, we generalize until our writing is mush. Say it plainly with concrete terminology.
  
  
• Are issues quantified?
  
  You can quantify the error, the issue, or the area audited.
  
  For example, on our cash reconciliation finding. You can quantify the:
  
  
  • Error: checks have bounced costing the entity $250 in bank fees
  • Issue: the bank account processes 400 transactions a month and averages a balance of $1M
  • Area: the bank account tracks disbursements of the entity’s largest grant, the Peters Grant. The Peters Grant distributes $150 million dollars to sub-recipients each year
• Is the executive summary "balanced" (present an objective and fair view)?
  
  Avoid judgmental language, such as poor, weak, and inadequate. You can avoid these terms if you simply say what is so—if you stick with the facts.
  
  Also, avoid making a mountain out of a molehill. If everything is fine except for a few minor issues, go ahead and say so.