Audit Tracking QI May 2010

Prem Sundaram

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• Publié par: Omka
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English

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QUICK INSIGHT
In this month’s edition:
Three Easy Steps to Getting Your Audit Issues Under Control – Forever!
TrakPointe™ - A Division of TSG, Inc. May 2010
Third. Implement a simple visual task Audit Issue Tracking – Truth and Human Nature is as Powerful as
tracking system to automate the process Consequences Motherre
and place accountability for completion The dreaded question comes from the lead Every community bank CFO has an audit
where is belongs, on the task owner.  issue tracking process, but human nature regulator, “The Excel file you provided
is always there to play its hand.indicated that all of the issues from last year’s
Task owners will always work to audit were corrected. But, it seems that this
So how does human nature get the best accomplish what managers track.  If there one is in the same condition as last year. 
of us? There always seems to be too few is no active tracking system, human Could you explain this, please?” people and too much to do in community nature will deftly slip those tasks to the
banks.  Providing the level of
back burner and you’ll once again be Now the scrambling begins in earnest.  How personalized service that community
working feverishly just before that next did we miss correcting that?  How did it get banks are known for takes effort and
examination. signed off as completed in the file?  Why soaks up time. 
didn’t we know about this?  What can we do
With this daily workload, those audit to not get caught again next year? Is Microsoft Excel Still the Best
issue items just seem to get pushed to the Tool?
back burner and likely won’t receive Microsoft Excel has been the “go to” Is Audit Issue Correction a Task?  much attention until just prior to the next
application for tracking virtually examination.Or is it a Process? everything for decades now.  We use it
“We don’t have processes.  What I mean
for calculations, storing rosters, task lists,
to say is, we don’t use them.”  This Three Simple Steps to Happy virtually everything.  And it does a pretty
response came from a Fortune 500 Examiners good job.  Plus, it’s relatively
executive during a recent interview about It’s really pretty easy to get those audit inexpensive.
his company’s processes.  So his items off of the back burner and avoid
company doesn’t fulfill orders? Doesn’t the last minute rush to get them done But, these Excel files just sit in your
sell products? three days prior to next examination.  system. They aren’t proactive.  Items with
Just follow these three steps: suspense dates require manual effort and
Each year when your audit is over, you
that’s where human nature sneaks in
take the examiner’s report, extract the list First.  Create a prioritized list of all of the again.
of audit issues and assign them to issues and who in the bank will be
various people for correction prior to the responsible for each task.  At the same Spreadsheet Risknext annual audit. Ta s k .  Each person time, determine if any special resources
Human nature being what it is, we know takes corrective action on the issues they are required or if more that one
that everyone likes to have their own were assigned.  Ta s k .  Each person then department will be involved.  Right, you
copy of the tracking spreadsheet and signs off that corrective action on his or already do this.
suddenly, in the blink of an eye, they no her assigned issue(s) has been completed. 
longer are the same. Dates and status Ta s k .  As each item is completed, the Second.  Establish a completion date for
changes occur. The train is off the track.central log of outstanding issues is each task that fits with the existing staff
annotated as ‘completed.’ Ta s k . workload and with the urgency If Excel Doesn’t Do the Trick, What’s
associated with each issue.  Confirm with the Answer?
Together, this series of individual tasks each task owner that they know what the There are a number of solutions to
string together and become your audit task entails and that they can meet the preventing a derailment and we, of
issue tracking and correction process.  target completion date.  Ditto, you do this course, have a favorite candidate. 
as well. Curious? Just flip the page.
Another TrakPointe™ Quick Insight from TSG, Inc. www.TrakPointe.com Page 1A TRAKPOINTE™ QUICK INSIGHT
TrakPointe™ is so good that it comes with no THE TRAKPOINTE™ SOLUTION The Ideal Post-Excel Solution
annual contract requirement and no annual Before we get to the solution, let’s
Welcome to the new edition of TSG’s maintenance fee.  If it ever fails to meet your consider what we at TSG think an ideal
TrakPointe™ Quick Insight series. You most requirements, you can cancel your post-Excel task tracking solution should likely have seen us before, but we have changed
subscription with 30 days notice and receive a deliver:our format and linked it to our TrakPointe™ task
full refund of your current year’s license fees.tracking solution.
It should be telephone-grade reliable;
Too Much to Do, Every Single Day it should just work Stay a Step Ahead of Your Every organization struggles to some degree
with the myriad tasks that face them every day and Examiners It needs a simple reminder function in our experience few organizations accomplish so
A TrakPointe™ solution gives you the tool
much with so few as do community banks. for management oversight, with an
you need to snap human nature back in line. internal audit function – who did what
More, Not Less, Regulation is On the Way Deploy TrakPointe™ and the next time the and when We’ve just returned from the Pacific Coast examiners arrive you’ll be able to show
Bankers Bank conference in San Francisco, and
exactly who corrected each audit item and
it’s clear that regulators are going to be It should include visual reports to
when.  Guaranteed!demanding more and more information, placing quickly show the progress of all open
ever increasing demands on the small staffs in issues
community banks. What Next?
First It should look like something staff Efficiency in Everything You Do is Critical
Visit TrakPointe.com, explore the available already use, with an absolute minimum With these new regulatory demands on the
modules, calculate the financial benefit and horizon, one might comment that it’s easy to talk training requirement
payback period for deployment at your bank, about improving efficiency but actually doing it
difficult, complex, and expensive. But, there is a and experience the future of task tracking and It should be simple, affordable, and
practical and inexpensive method. management for community banks.expandable to other task tracking
Simplicity Really Matters requirements - contracts management,
Second If you were on US Airways Flight 1549 when marketing, lending, and deposit
Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III landed the Contact us for a no obligation online gathering) – with a good ROI
aircraft in the Hudson River you will forever demonstration.  You’ll be glad you did!
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Finally, it should carry no 12 month know, however, is that “Sully” skillfully followed
[e-mail] checklist that radically simplified the complex annual contract lock-in.
877.874.4457process of making an engine-off landing into a
series of sequential tasks that he and his copilot 310.362.7650 (direct)
followed as they descended toward the Hudson. TrakPointe™ for Community
Banks To learn about the true power of checklists, we
Meet TrakPointe™, the task tracking and recommend you take an hour and read the best
selling book, The Checklist Manifesto, by Dr. management solution that requires no
Atul Gawande, and understand how simple additional learning or software
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complex buildings and how they are radically
improving the quality of medical care.
TrakPointe™ is built from the ground up on
TrakPointe™ Brings this Simplicity and Microsoft technologies, so it works natively
Efficiency to Community Banking with your Microsoft Explorer, Outlook,
Office, and SharePoint applications. TrakPointe™ brings this very same simple
checklist solution to community banks. Using
it allows banks to move from inefficient TrakPointe™ is a hosted service (but you can functional silos to integrated process teams,
implement it within your bank if you wish), eliminating unneeded and costly tasks and
enabling differentiation on efficiency and so there is no need to purchase additional
quality of customer service. hardware or add another management task to
Prem Sundaramyour IT team’s workload. And, you’ll have the information those
Principal and President, TSG, Inc.regulators are seeking right at your fingertips.
TrakPointe™ has 12 standard modules,
including audit issue tracking, and can be
used right out of the box or tailored to your
specific process needs within just a few days.Robert Hess, Principal and CEO, TSG, Inc.
Page 2 www.TrakPointe.com Copyright TSG, Inc. 201