Question

. Any corporate entity is required to maintain control of all its properties for its owners. The governing board and members of management are individually and collectively responsible for the prudent protection of assets. Asset protection is every associate’s responsibility, and specific protection functions are assigned to various units. Assets are further protected by a combination of an internal audit function and a hired external auditor. Describe the auditing process in HCOs.

Answer 1

The auditing process in HCO (Considered Health care organisations to the best of my knowledge)

Majorly two Audits are followed in the organisations:

Internal audit- For the vigilence and prevention of any risks within the oragnisation.

External audit- For the checking of true and fair view of the Financial statements and compliances.

Steps for audit are:

• First the risk assessment of the organisation is done. Which includes:
  • the assessment of the controls of the organisation in place,
  • checking of the revenue management systems ( how the patients are charged, what are the main areas of revenue, managing the treasury activities of the org.and getting insights of the credit period recieved and given)
  • The ERP/ software for the whole organisation ( thedata maintainance checks , security protocols)
  • A check on the Pharmacy store ( drug distribution , brands recommended, availabilityof drugs, profit margins)
  • Checking the turnaround time of the patients ( i.e. the ease of admitting the patient till his discharge )
  • budgets need to be checked and acutals to be matched with them . and the variances are to be noted down for the further actionns upon them.
  • All the financial authorities and sanctions given to the employees and employers to be brought into check and the transaction done by the should not exceed above their sanctions.
• After the risk assessment , based on it the further audit plan is set.
  • After the risk assessment of various activities upon the risk parameters the priorities for them can be set in the audit plan.
• When the audit plan is ready , based on it the Delevopent and execution of the plan is taken into consideration by:
  • Setting the time lines and objectives framework for each activity.
  • The owner of task and entity are assigned and are here further held responsible for the activities.
• The methods used for the execution of the audit can be sampling method, physical verification, vouching the documents and reciepts, data verification, cold calls, surprise visits and checks)
• The concluding step is the preparation of the report and recomendations on the findings.
  • The report should include all the findings of the audit, the pribles identified and the suggested improvements and solution tho the addressed problems.
  • the solution should be clear,to the point and backed with data and concrete understanding of the solution to be provided.
  • when the report is ready it needs to be submitted to the audit committee.