No News is Good News: Our Guide to Navigating Audit Season

People working in procurement carry a lot of responsibility. “Auditability” isn’t just a buzzword – it’s central to keeping your organisation compliant, ethical and out of the headlines for the wrong reasons.

The idea of an auditor digging through your records can feel daunting, especially if processes are inconsistent or heavily manual. But with the right preparation, audit season becomes far less stressful and, in the best cases, relatively uneventful – which is exactly what you want.

Here are three practical ways to reduce risk and set yourself up for a quiet audit period.

1. Speak the Same Language

Technical policies and procedures can be hard for non-procurement staff to interpret. If your rules are buried in dense documents, it’s no surprise that buyers struggle to follow them consistently.

Think about how brands like IKEA use simple visual instructions to guide people through a complex task. Procurement can apply the same principle by translating policy into clear, step-by-step guides, checklists or visual workflows that anyone can follow.

Digital tools such as Unimarket's Guide module help by turning policy into interactive pathways. Staff answer a few straightforward questions and are directed to the right process – without needing to read a manual from cover to cover.

2. Learn from Others’ Mistakes

Audit reports from other organisations, sectors or jurisdictions can be goldmines of insight. They highlight where processes have broken down, what regulators are paying attention to and the types of controls that are considered good practice.

By reviewing publicly available findings and comparing them to your own processes, you can identify potential gaps in advance. Are you documenting decisions clearly? Are thresholds applied consistently? Do you have an audit trail for communication with suppliers?

Proactively addressing these issues before your auditors come calling can prevent repeat findings and build confidence with leadership and oversight bodies.

3. Use the Right Tools for the Job

Even the best policy will struggle if it’s being executed through emails, spreadsheets and shared drives. These tools are flexible but make it difficult to see the full picture, ensure consistency or answer detailed questions quickly.

Modern procurement platforms can centralise sourcing events, approvals, supplier communications and contract details. When everything lives in one place – and is tied to a clear workflow – assembling evidence for an audit becomes far easier.

Instead of hunting through inboxes or individual files, you can show auditors a complete, time-stamped record of what happened, when and why.

In Summary

Good audit outcomes rarely come down to last-minute heroics. They’re the result of clear rules, practical guidance and systems that make it easy to do the right thing every day.

By speaking a language buyers understand, learning from findings elsewhere and using tools designed for transparency, procurement teams can reduce risk and remove much of the anxiety associated with audit season. In the world of audits, “no news” really can be the best news of all.