AUDITRIBE
PRACTICAL AUDIT GUIDE

Projects & Capital Expenditure

Assess whether projects and capital expenditure are properly justified, approved, procured, monitored and delivered as intended.

Key Risks

  • Cost overruns
  • Scope creep
  • Project delays
  • Unsupported contractor payments
  • Assets that do not deliver expected benefits

Documents & Data

  • Business cases
  • Approved budgets
  • Project charter and plan
  • Contracts and purchase orders
  • Progress certificates
  • Change orders
  • Completion and handover records

Key Controls

  • Formal business-case approval
  • Budget controls
  • Milestone monitoring
  • Change-control approval
  • Independent certification of work
  • Project closure and benefit review

Practical Audit Procedures

  1. Compare approved budget, commitments and actual spend.
  2. Test contractor payments to contracts, milestones and certifications.
  3. Review change orders for justification and approval.
  4. Analyse schedule delays and management responses.
  5. Physically verify selected completed project assets.
  6. Review project closure, handover and post-implementation benefit assessment.

Questions to Ask

  • What could prevent this process from achieving its objective?
  • Which controls are considered critical, and who owns them?
  • What evidence shows the controls actually operated during the period?
  • What exceptions, incidents or recurring problems occurred?
  • What has management changed since the last review?

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