This paper addresses the critical role of Audits, Reviews, and Assurance in strengthening project governance and ensuring strategic value delivery. It distinguishes these functions clearly: an Audit is an independent, structured review assessing compliance with policies; a Review evaluates performance against the baseline; and Assurance provides ongoing, independent insight into a project’s health and viability.
The paper outlines the project manager’s responsibilities in the audit process to promote understanding and reduce audit anxiety. Its ultimate aim is to shift teams from reactive “scrambling” to achieving Continuous Audit Readiness – a proactive state where readiness is embedded in daily operations through up-to-date documentation, active risk logs, and disciplined practices. This state rests on five strategic pillars: Modular, Risk-Based, Iterative Scaling, Cultural Integration, and Tech-Enabled. By embracing continuous readiness, projects can enhance outcomes, ensure compliance, strengthen management processes, and build stakeholder confidence.
The call for effective project governance is clear when looking at the statistics around project failures and the reasons why projects fail. According to Balka, Heslin & Risse-Tenk (2022), more than 70% of projects fail, which equates to almost one in four. Even more alarming is that only one in 200 IT projects delivers the intended benefits on time and within budget (McKinsey).
According to the Pulse of the Profession 2018 study carried out by the Project Management Institute (PMI) on 5402 companies, the three main causes of project failure are:
- a change in business priorities (39%)
- a change in the project’s objectives (37%)
- incorrect collection of requirements (35%)
A proven mechanism for mitigating this challenge and improving project success rates is the establishment of effective project governance, which is fundamental to realizing organizational strategy and achieving value-driven outcomes. Project governance encompasses three distinct but complementary functions, namely audits, reviews, and assurances. Understanding the differences between these functions and what is expected from the project manager is the first step in creating a resilient project management ecosystem. The ultimate goal is to move project teams from “scrambling” during an audit to being perpetually Audit-Ready.
