SmartSuite for the Audit Quality Assurance Reviewer
The Audit Quality Assurance Reviewer ensures engagements meet internal methodology and the IIA Standards. They verify workpapers are complete and properly reviewed, confirm sign-offs with electronic audit trails, and evaluate reports against methodology and regulatory expectations.
What you own
The Audit Quality Assurance Reviewer ensures engagements meet internal methodology and the IIA Standards.
- Review engagement workpapers against methodology and the Standards
- Verify that reviews and approvals are complete and evidenced
- Evaluate audit reports for accuracy, support and consistency
- Run the quality assurance and improvement program
- Track quality findings and improvement actions
- Prepare for external quality assessments
At a glance
The GRC processes this role owns, touches and depends on.
Owns
accountable for the process
Touches
contributes or approves
Depends on
consumes its output
How the GRC processes connect
Three lines of defense set the frame; the chain shows where each process hands off to the next. Colors follow the role: navy is owned, blue is touched, gray is depended on.
Reporting lines
Who this role reports to, who reports to them, and the peers they work with most.
Reports to
Direct reports
Works closely with
How SmartSuite supports this role
Lead
Internal audit. Gives reviewers complete visibility into review cycles, verifying workpapers include complete, accurate and properly reviewed documentation.
Issues and actions. Tracks quality findings and improvement actions to closure.
Reporting. Confirms all reviews and approvals with electronic audit trails and reports conformance.
Products this role uses most
Industry reference
The IIA's Global Internal Audit Standards (2024) require a quality assurance and improvement program with internal assessments and an external quality assessment at least every five years. The reviewer checks workpapers, supervision and reporting against those Standards and the function's methodology.
Regulators read the results. Bank supervisors expect the audit function to be independently assessed under Basel and OCC guidance; government audit organizations undergo peer review under GAO's Yellow Book; healthcare and technology audit functions evidence quality to audit committees and, where external auditors rely on their work, to those auditors under PCAOB AS 2605.
Related roles
Explore Further
Guides and definitions from the GRC Knowledge Center and the What-is glossary, chosen for this role.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Audit Quality Assurance Reviewer responsible for?
The Audit Quality Assurance Reviewer ensures engagements meet the function's methodology and the IIA Standards. They review workpapers against both, verify that reviews and approvals are complete and evidenced, evaluate audit reports for accuracy, support and consistency, run the quality assurance and improvement program, track quality findings and improvement actions and prepare the function for external quality assessments. In SmartSuite the reviewer works from the same engagement records as the audit teams.
How does SmartSuite help an Audit Quality Assurance Reviewer check workpapers?
SmartSuite gives the reviewer complete visibility into review cycles in Internal Audit Management, so they can verify that workpapers include complete, accurate and properly reviewed documentation without requesting files from the engagement team. The reviewer sees which workpapers were reviewed, by whom and when, and whether review notes were cleared before the report was issued, which is the evidence the Standards require for supervision.
How are sign-offs and approvals evidenced for an external assessment?
Every review and approval is confirmed with an electronic audit trail, so the reviewer can show an external assessor who signed off each workpaper and report, and when, without reconstructing it from emails. Conformance is reported from those trails, giving the function a running picture of adherence to methodology rather than a snapshot assembled in the weeks before the external quality assessment.
How does the reviewer track quality findings and improvement actions?
Quality findings are logged in Issues Management with owners and dates and tracked to closure, in the same way engagement findings are. That keeps the improvement program accountable: the reviewer can show the Audit Director and Chief Audit Executive which quality issues recur, which improvements were agreed and whether they were completed, and the Audit Managers whose engagements were reviewed see the actions assigned to them.
How does the reviewer report conformance to audit leadership?
The reviewer reports conformance to the Audit Director and Chief Audit Executive from SmartSuite, using the audit trails and quality findings as the evidence base. Compliance Assessments & Testing holds compliance test results in the same model, so quality review can extend to that work. The reviewer reads engagement records that already exist rather than building a separate quality file, so the first workflow is a conformance check on one live engagement. New customers can start with SmartSuite Onboarding, a guided four-week program around one or two priority workflows.
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