In last week’s article, we began a discussion of the audit report on Exxon’s post-contract costs covering the period 2018-2020. We stated despite our decades of experience writing audit and other reports as well as reviewing drafts reports, we found it extremely difficult going through the report to identify the findings and recommendations contained therein. Specifically, the report lacked basic structure. There is no table of contents to guide readers through the report; no executive summary; no list of abbreviations; no definition of the technical terms used; and no sections dealing with the terms of reference for the assignment, the scope and methodology used, the auditing standards that were followed in the conduct of the audit, and findings, conclusions, and recommendations, among others.
