Finding the right way to assess the outcomes of each of our audits is an ongoing challenge for us. We certainly do follow-up audits, from time to time, on topics that were the subject of past audits. That's one possible approach. However, it's not really a good way to achieve helpful measurements of outcome, given all the time that elapses before we carry out a new audit on the same subject.
However, it's the only way we've found to determine whether our audits have a particular impact. Departments certainly look favourably on all the recommendations we make in our various audits, and they sometimes prepare action plans to resolve the problems we've identified. But the only way to ensure that the recommendations and improvements are implemented is to do a follow-up.