Strategic Audit Guidelines

I. Current Situation

– A. Current Performance

– How did the corporation perform the past year overall in terms of return on investment, market share, and profitability?

– B. Strategic Posture

– What are the corporation's current mission, objectives, strategies, and policies?

– Are they clearly stated or are they merely implied from performance?

– Mission: What businesses) is the corporation in? Why?

– Objectives: What are the corporate, business, and functional objectives? Are they consistent with each other, with the mission, and with the internal and external environments?

– Strategies: What strategy or mix of strategies is the corporation following? Are they consistent with each other, with the mission and objectives, and with the internal and external environments?

– Policies: What are they? Are they consistent with each other, with the mission and objectives, with the strategies, and with the internal and external environments?

– Do the current mission, objectives, strategies, and policies reflect the corporation's international operations — whether global or multi-domestic?

II. Corporate Governance

– A. Board of Directors

– Who are they? Are they internal or external?

– Do they own significant shares of stock?

– Is the stock privately held or publicly traded? Are there different classes of stock with different voting rights?

– What do they contribute to the corporation in terms of knowledge, skills, background, and connections? If the corporation has international operations, do board members have international experience?

– How long have they served on the board?

– What is their level of involvement in strategic management? Do they merely rubber-stamp top management's proposals or do they actively participate and suggest future directions?

– B. Top Management

– What person or group constitutes top management?

– What are top management's chief characteristics in terms of knowledge, skills, background, and style? If the corporation has international ...