Audits Vs Performance Reviews Vs Benchmarking

Public Risk Management

On this episode, Mark Nestor, the President of Independent Consulting and Risk Management Services, will discuss Audit vs Performance Review, Reviews vs Benchmarking. Overview - the differences between an audit, performance review and a benchmarking study: Audits are an analysis under prescribed standards, normally undertaken by a qualified independent firm. They're looking to follow national or state guidelines, and are marginally collaborative between the auditor and the client. A performance review is a much broader view, blended of informal and formal activities, and can be conducted internally or externally. Whereas benchmarking, is a very informal process, that’s predefined quantitative and qualitative analysis based on the entities’ key metrics using either national standards, such as IRIS - the insurance regulatory information systems - but it's important to understand the IRIS standards are really not mandated or applicable in the public entity or the public sector. The audit, performance review and benchmarking are all tied together, but it's very difficult to do a performance review or benchmark without having the financial auditing information serve as the foundation. Your performance review and benchmarking are key metrics that you can use to help manage and implement activities that either are derived from the performance review or key activities that may arrive out of the audit process itself.