Audit Ratings and Opinions that Stand Up to Scrutiny

Overview

1. Modernise your rating process by 

• Designing ratings that clearly address different risk categories (e.g. strategic, operational, conduct, financial and technology risk).

• Aligning your ratings approach with advanced maturity and assurance frameworks already used in your organisation.

• Incorporating risk culture, risk appetite and operational resilience factors explicitly into your ratings.

• Leveraging AI and data‑driven techniques to drive consistency, identify outliers and pressure‑test ratings and opinions.

2. Master the art of forming robust audit opinions that

• Stand up to potential regulatory, board and external challenge.

• Aggregate findings and themes across processes, entities and audits in a coherent way.

• Address emerging risks in areas such as operational resilience, cyber security, third‑party risk and conduct.

• Clearly set out the level of assurance, key limitations and residual uncertainty without diluting impact.

3. Build a comprehensive approach to overall opinions by

• Drawing on diverse sources of evidence beyond traditional audit work (e.g. incidents, risk reports, assurance mapping, external reviews).

• Communicating scope and limitations transparently while keeping messages clear and compelling.

• Benchmarking against peer insights and external assessments to calibrate your approach and identify improvement opportunities.

Target Audience

• CAEs responsible for annual opinions and assurance frameworks.
• Audit managers who own rating scales, methodology and quality review.
• Senior auditors who draft reports and need to explain ratings clearly and confidently.