audit
termgovernance & risk
An independent examination of whether controls exist and operate as described, producing an opinion somebody else can rely on.
Independence is the product: an internal review can find more and convince fewer. What auditors test is usually a sample against a stated control, which means the result says the control worked on those occasions rather than always - a distinction worth holding on to when a clean report meets a real incident. The useful preparation is not tidying evidence before the visit but keeping records that are produced by the process anyway.
Also known as: auditoria