Audit Universe

The AUDIT | Audit universe page forms the foundation of audit planning by providing a structured inventory of the entities, processes, systems, and activities that the IAF can audit. By maintaining this inventory, the organisation ensures that audit plans are developed based on a complete and accurate understanding of the auditable environment and the accompanying risk assessment.

The objective of AUDIT | Audit universe is to maintain a structured hierarchy of auditable units that represents the organisation’s operational and governance landscape. This hierarchy forms the basis for developing risk-based audit plans.

AUDIT | Audit universe can be found on the sidebar within the AUDIT module of the IA Governance app.

The Audit universe page displays the organisation’s auditable units in a hierarchical structure. Users can view and manage the hierarchy through either a table view or an organogram view, depending on their preferred way of navigating the audit universe. The Table view is the default view and displays the audit universe in a hierarchical table format. Each auditable unit appears as a row in the table showing its name, description, and owner. Users can expand or collapse arrows to navigate through different levels of the hierarchy.

Users can switch between Table view and Organogram view using the toggle located in the top right corner of the page. The Organogram view displays the audit universe as a visual chart showing the relationships between units. Each auditable unit appears as a box connected to its parent and child units. Selecting a unit displays additional details about that auditable unit. The system remembers the last selected view and will reopen the audit universe using that view when users return to the page.

Adding an Auditable unit

To add a new auditable unit, select the + button and then Auditable unit.

In the dialog that opens, complete the following fields:

• Name – Enter a unique name for the auditable unit.
• Description – Provide a clear explanation of the unit’s purpose, activities, or objectives.
• Owner – Assign an owner responsible for the auditable unit. Two options are available:
  • Enter owner information – Enter the name or role manually if the responsible person is not a Caseware Cloud user.
  • Select owner – Choose a Caseware Cloud user associated with the entity. Linking to a Cloud user allows the system to send tasks, queries, and notifications directly to the responsible person.
• Parent – Select the higher-level unit under which the new unit should be placed in the hierarchy.

Select Save to create the auditable unit. The hierarchy refreshes immediately, and the unit appears under the selected parent.

Note: Whenever possible, use the Select owner option to link units to Cloud users. This improves accountability and allows automated notifications and tasks to be sent to the responsible individual.

Editing an Auditable unit

To edit an auditable unit, select the Edit button next to the unit in the Table view, or in the Organogram view.

The dialog will open with the same fields used when creating the unit. Update the necessary information and select Save. The hierarchy refreshes immediately with the updated information.

Deleting an Auditable unit

To delete an auditable unit, select the Delete button next to the unit in the Table view, or select the unit in the Organogram view.

If the unit has no child units, a confirmation dialog appears allowing the unit to be deleted.

If the unit has child units, the system will require you to decide how the linked items should be handled:

• Delete the linked items – Deletes the selected unit together with all its child units.
• Move the linked items – Reassigns the child units to another parent unit before deleting the selected unit.

Once confirmed, the hierarchy updates immediately.

Maintaining the Audit universe ensures that the Internal Audit Function has a complete and structured inventory of auditable entities, processes, systems, and activities within the organisation. By organising these units in a hierarchical structure and assigning responsible owners, the page provides the foundation for performing risk assessments and developing audit plans that reflect the organisation’s operational landscape.