Additionally, aside results and documents consulted, it is also necessary to assess the various variables used in the evaluations. It is for instance possible for the company to alter the findings by focusing on more favorable variables. As a specific example, a financial audit could reveal increased organizational abilities to honor company debts, but this conclusion could solely be founded on the assessment of the company's short-term liquidity, in a context in which the assessment of the long-term liquidity would have revealed financial instabilities. In this order of ideas, the risks of altered results would decrease and the relevance of the findings would increase to better allow the auditor to assess the quality of the internal control systems.

At this stage, the auditors would make use of several technological applications through which to increase the efficiency of the data analysis process. In terms of the financial assessments for instance, they could implement the several AXS-One systems for the analysis of the general ledger, through which they would assess the correctness of the balance entries, the inter-company accounts, the amounts of money used in the consolidation of other subsidiaries or several other financial aspects (AXS-One, 2003).

Particular elements which should be assessed at this stage of the assessment include:

The levels of organizational integrity and ethics

The organizational commitment to competence

The structure of the company and the control processes at each organizational level

The assignment of authority and responsibility

The practices regarding accounting, human resources and other organizational processes (the University of Utah).

Phase 3: Testing

Finally, in the third stage of the control process, it is necessary that tests be conducted on the efficiency of the control mechanisms. Specifically, the following questions should be answered: