This audit report template can be used by auditors conducting a review of an organization’s media spend.

Testing involved activities such as providing stakeholders with an independent assessment of the internal controls within the media spend process, evaluating the design of key controls within media spend processes to identify and remediate gaps, identifying process improvement opportunities for increased efficiency and effectiveness, and verifying the adequacy of services received in line with contracted terms and conditions. The following recommendations were noted as a result of testing:

• Standardize the method of tracking campaign estimates and communicating accruals to finance and utilize it consistently throughout the department.
• Consider the feasibility of implementing an estimate and accrual tracking system for all agencies and publishers to track estimates in a centralized manner.
• Perform a review to verify that access to media spend systems and databases is properly restricted to active employees who require access to complete their job functions.
• Enhance policies and procedures around the media spend process to describe all procedures currently performed.