AGILE AUDITING
NAVIGATING DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS: AGILE AUDITING IN THE SA PUBLIC SECTOR Cobus van Rensburg
Internal Audit Manager: Moore Southern Cape
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t is no secret that the world has undergone significant changes over the last few years. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, followed by two major wars in Eurasia, is but two of the factors that are still causing disruptive changes in the business world. Organisations are forced to adapt to rapidly dynamic environments to manage risk and continuously ensure the creation of stakeholder value. Assurance providers, such as public sector internal and external auditors, also operate in these environments and are therefore confronted with the challenge of adapting their methodologies to effectively address the dynamic nature of government operations. Traditional audit approaches may struggle to keep pace with the everchanging environment, making it imperative for auditors to consider agile auditing practices.
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Agile auditing can be defined as a flexible and iterative approach that aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of audit processes. Originally derived from agile project management methodologies in the software development industry, agile auditing underlines the principles of adaptability, collaboration, and customer satisfaction (Wolters Kluwer 2021).
Agile auditing can be defined as a flexible and iterative approach that aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of audit processes. It also involves the adoption of more frequent communication strategies with audit clients to update audit plans and management schedules more regularly to reflect current risk management priorities, rather than
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