takes them to the appropriate part of the methodology a user typically experiences

“We have gathered methodology that will provide guidance being reduced by more than 50%.

feedback from on that activity.

This is beneficial to all our auditors,

our practitioner Topic-based GAM is made even more

dynamic by the existence of on-demand
but particularly those for whom English
is a second language. Not only does our

community and “tips” and “examples” that are only

displayed once an interactive icon has
revised, topic-based GAM read very
well, it also translates more easily
acted on it to been clicked. A tip is a helpful suggestion
to auditors, whereas an example might
into multiple languages.

refine and be a practical explanation of how an audit

requirement can be met. This means that
improve the auditors may first read the requirements
and guidance in the methodology and
user experience.” then click on the tips and examples when
they need more information.
We regularly update both GAM and our
associated forms and templates to reflect
new standards, emerging auditing issues
and practical experience, as well as to
respond to internal and external
inspection results.
As we have developed GAM, we have
gathered feedback from our practitioner
community and acted on it to refine
and improve the user experience — for
example, by adding a new topic or better
clarifying an existing one. Following its
revision, GAM is more accessible and
easier to understand, with the volume of
We have also taken the approaches and
methodology from topic-based GAM
and applied them to our new Assurance
Reporting Manual, which supports the new
auditor reporting, and will soon do the
same with our Assurance Policy Manual.
Other than GAM, these two manuals are
the biggest auditing knowledge tools
that our auditors use and they are both
contained within EY Atlas, along with
GAM. They will contain tips and examples,
in the same way that GAM does.
Customization
Our audit methodology includes profiling
functionality that means that it can be
customized according to the requirements
of a particular audit.
For example, where appropriate, it can
be customized according to whether an
audit is of a complex or a non-complex

Case study

How I am providing audit quality

I believe that audit quality
is about understanding the
why and how of what we
are doing. We can follow
procedures, but if we don’t
understand why we are
following them, then we
won’t uncover the most
important issues.
To gain that understanding,
we need to know our clients’
Rachel Morales, Manager, business, their industry and
Houston, US the standards they must
abide by. It’s not enough to
look at individual transactions
or documentation; we
must also appreciate the
wider context behind it.
What I enjoy most about being
an auditor with EY is that I
am always learning — whether
that’s to do with a new client, a
new audit or a new accounting
requirement. There’s always
an opportunity for me to grow.
I can’t think of another
profession where, five years
in, I would be meeting with
CFOs and other directors and
they would be listening to
what I have to say because
of the knowledge I have. I
also like being able to teach
the people in my team and
helping them to grow.
EY is a large organization
that offers a wide variety
of career experiences. I
have found that EY leaders
are always willing to listen
to my interests and they
support me to seek out new
challenges. I find our new
analytics tools particularly
exciting and I am looking
forward to making even more
use of them in future.

20 Audit Quality: A Globally Sustainable Approach