Internal audit teams aren’t just checklist machines anymore. Today, audit functions are expected to be strategic, data-driven, and tightly aligned with risk. That shift means audit leaders need more than static plans and year-end reports, they need real-time visibility into what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus next.
At Empowered, we work with audit teams every day to help bring clarity and control to their processes. Whether you’re building your KPI dashboard from scratch or refreshing what you’ve been tracking, here are ten performance indicators that modern audit teams rely on – and how the right platform makes it easier to measure them.
1. % of Audit Plan Completed (YTD)
The classic. It tells you how on-track your team is compared to your annual plan.
Empowered’s dashboards let you track this automatically, rolling up progress across all audits in real time so you don’t have to chase down updates.
2. Time to Complete an Audit
Speed isn’t everything, but a 9-month audit cycle probably isn’t winning any hearts.
This KPI helps identify bottlenecks, overly complex scoping, or resource constraints. With Empowered, you can compare cycle times across audits and drill down by phase (planning, fieldwork, reporting).
3. Open vs. Closed Findings
It’s not just about spotting issues, it’s about resolving them.
Monitoring how many findings are still open (and how long they’ve been open) is a key indicator of follow-through. Empowered provides aging reports and reminder workflows to keep findings from getting stale.
4. Average Time to Close Findings
Related to the above, this KPI shines a light on how responsive management is (or isn’t).
Shorter closure times often signal strong ownership and action. Empowered helps track by owner, department, and risk level, so you can escalate when needed.
5. % of High-Risk Areas Audited
You want your audit program to focus where it matters most.
Tracking how much of your coverage hits high-risk areas (versus low or medium) helps ensure your resources align with actual risk exposure. Empowered ties audits to your risk register so you can measure this easily.
6. Audit Resource Utilization
Are you overloading your team or leaving capacity on the table?
This KPI helps balance workloads and justify headcount. With Empowered, you can forecast and track hours by person, project, or skill set – so you know who’s available, and who’s at risk of burnout.
7. Number of Audits with Repeated Findings
Recurring issues often point to deeper problems, like ineffective controls or half-hearted remediation.
This KPI is a reality check for both audit quality and organizational accountability. Empowered lets you tag repeat findings and track root causes over time.
8. Client Satisfaction Scores
Yes, internal audits have “clients” – and yes, their experience matters.
Many audit teams now survey business units post-audit. Empowered can capture this feedback as part of the closeout workflow, giving you a better sense of how audits are perceived.
9. % of Audits Completed On-Time
It’s one thing to complete the audit. It’s another to hit the original timeline.
Tracking timeliness gives you insight into planning accuracy and stakeholder responsiveness. Empowered logs planned vs. actual completion dates across the board.
10. Number of Audits Requiring Rework
Too many rewrites or scope changes? That could signal unclear objectives, weak prep, or misalignment with stakeholders.
This KPI can help improve audit scoping and kickoff practices. With Empowered, you can flag and review audit records that go through multiple revisions, so you’re learning from the past.
Bringing It All Together
The best KPIs don’t just tell you what happened, they help you improve what happens next. With Empowered, audit teams can automatically track, report, and act on performance data without building spreadsheets or wrangling manual updates.
Whether you’re running a lean team or a full-scale internal audit department, these KPIs can serve as your compass. And with the right tools in place you don’t just track performance, you build a stronger, more trusted audit function.
