Audit committees need an independent view of whether controls work, and finance directors need findings they can act on. This template sets out the opinion, the scope, graded findings, management responses and an action plan with owners and dates, followed by a follow-up page on earlier findings. The structure ties each finding to its criteria, cause, effect and recommendation, so the same issue does not come back next year.

Every figure is sample data for Millrace Holdings, a fictional group, and the sections agree with one another: a high-rated gap appears in the opinion, the findings and the action plan. Replace the scope, the findings and the responses with your own testing, then apply your written rating criteria. Delete any section that does not match your audit, such as the payroll page where you have no payroll cycle in scope.