Audit Coverage Calculator

Plan score = 0.45 × high-risk coverage + 0.20 × cycle coverage + 0.20 × feasibility + 0.15 × finding closure rate, where cycle coverage = annual coverage × cycle years. High-risk coverage carries most of the weight because a risk-based plan is judged on whether it visits the risk, not on how much of the universe it sweeps. Feasibility is scored separately since plans are routinely written for more engagements than the available days support, and the closure rate is included because an audit function that keeps finding issues nobody closes is generating paperwork rather than assurance.

Audit committees approve plans and then ask in month nine why three engagements have slipped; this shows the arithmetic in advance. The output is a planning estimate, not an assessment of audit quality.

This calculator takes 9 inputs: Auditable units in the audit universe, Units planned for audit this year, Units rated high risk, High-risk units in this year's plan, Audit cycle length, Auditor days available this year, Average auditor days per engagement, Findings currently open, Findings closed in the last 12 months. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

No, and trying to is the classic symptom of a rotation-driven plan. Low-risk units can be covered by continuous monitoring, self-assessment or simply left alone with a documented rationale, which frees days for the high-risk units that deserve depth rather than a visit.

Cut scope deliberately rather than by attrition. Reduce the number of engagements, shorten the low-risk ones, or ask for days — but put the choice in front of the audit committee, because the alternative is a plan that fails in month nine with no one having made a decision.