Use the Gartner audit strategy toolkit to set, communicate and execute your audit strategy for 2026.
- Gartner client? Log in for personalized search results.
Audit Strategy Toolkit for Effective Planning
This year's top priority for audit leaders is to advance auditors’ use of data and analytics.
To achieve this, an effective audit strategic plan that aligns your enterprise strategy with specific initiatives for your function is essential. When executed well, your audit strategy should offer a clear roadmap to accomplish your business goals.
Download the Gartner Audit Strategy Toolkit to:
- Apply 5 key activities for a high-impact audit strategy
- Discover frameworks and tools to benchmark and measure audit effectiveness
- Capture and share your audit strategy with stakeholders using a concise one-page template
About the Audit Strategy Toolkit
The Gartner Audit Strategy Toolkit enables audit leaders to define a roadmap for executing the key actions required to meet audit strategic goals in alignment to the enterprise business model and goals. Leaders can leverage this audit strategy toolkit to create and communicate a clear action plan that states where the audit function currently is, where it needs to be, how to get there and how to measure progress.
Audit Strategy FAQs
What is an effective audit strategy?
An effective audit strategy is a functional roadmap that assesses current resources, costs and budget and aligns them with the company’s mission and goals. It sets a plan to align with enterprise goals to grow and innovate, despite changing and often unpredictable business conditions. An audit strategy sets priorities, manages trade-off decisions and ensures the internal audit function continues to make critical investments to meet business needs.
What are the 5 key activities for an effective audit strategy?
- Verify the business context. Confirm the enterprise mission and goals and make sure your employees know how they apply to their everyday work. Align your audit goals for impact.
- Assess your audit function’s ability to deliver on your goals and create a plan to fill the capability gaps that will slow your impact.
- Strategically manage audit budgets to prioritize cost, budget and investment decisions to favor initiatives that will drive impact — and demote those that won’t.
- Decide how to measure your progress. Select measures and metrics that will demonstrate the progress you’re making against the commitments you’ve made.
- Document your strategy — ideally on just one page — to simply and clearly state where the audit organization is, where it is going and how it will get to the future state.
Why use the Gartner Audit Strategy Toolkit?
The Gartner Audit Strategy Toolkit helps audit leaders develop a multiyear department strategy and implement that strategy through identifying measurable annual targets. Working through this tool will enable you to:
- Develop your strategic plan
- Identify key threats, challenges and drivers to address through the strategic plan
- Determine priority areas, goals and metrics that will address department and organizational challenges
- Prioritize initiatives and track implementation to fulfill your strategic goals
- Communicate the strategic plan across the department and organization