Who this is for: Audit Administrators (Manage Audit Settings). Everyone else can read the charter in force for their location — see Where people see the charter below.
Your audit charter is the approved document that sets out the purpose, authority, independence and reporting line of your internal audit. Audit365 stores the charter as a file or a link, tracks its approval and review dates, and works out which charter is in force at each location.
Opening the Audit Charter tab
Go to Settings → System Settings → Audit Settings → Audit Charter. The tab shows:
Location and Status filters (All statuses, Draft, Active, Under Review, Archived)
the No active charter setting — see What happens where no charter is in force below
a coverage line, for example “8% covered — 10 of 122 locations covered by a charter in force”, with Reviews overdue in red when any are due
the charter table: Charter Title, Applies To, Document, Charter Owner, Head of Audit / Lead, Status, Version, Effective Date, Next Review and Actions
Once you have a charter, Export offers PDF (Visible Rows) and Excel (Visible Rows), following your filters.
Adding a charter
Select + Add Charter.
Enter the Charter title.
Under Applies to, leave it blank for an organisation-wide charter, or choose one location. A charter applies to one location (or the whole organisation), and locations without their own charter use the nearest one above them.
Under Charter document, choose Upload file (PDF, Word, Excel or an image, up to 20 MB) or Link.
Check the Charter owner (it defaults to you), and optionally add a Version / reference and a Head of Audit / Lead — either a user or someone else.
Choose a Status: Draft, Active or Under Review.
Enter the Effective date and Review every (months) (12 by default, from 1 to 120). Next review is filled in from these.
Enter Approved by (for example Board or Audit Committee) and the Approval date.
Select Save.
Note: An Active or Under Review charter needs its effective date, who approved it and the approval date. A draft only needs a title, a document and the review dates. Supporting policies and documents can be added once the charter is saved.
One charter in force per location
When you make a charter Active — by saving it as Active or with Set as Active — any other charter in force for the same location is archived and kept in its history. You are asked to confirm: “Any other charter in force for the same location will be archived and kept in the history.”
An organisation-wide charter and a site charter can both be Active at the same time, because they apply to different locations.
Which charter applies where
For any location, the charter in force is:
its own Active charter, if it has one
otherwise, the Active charter of the nearest location above it
otherwise, your organisation-wide charter
Filter by Location to check. An inherited charter is tagged Inherited from and the location it comes from; the organisation-wide one is tagged Organisation-wide charter. Inherited rows are read-only — edit them on the location they belong to.
Updating, history and archiving
Each row’s Actions are Update Charter, View Change History, Open / Download and Archive, plus Set as Active on draft and archived charters. There is no delete.
Update Charter — change any detail, or replace the document. Under Supporting policies & documents, select + Add document, give it a Name and an optional Type (for example Audit Policy), attach a file or link, and select Add. Supporting documents are saved straight away; Remove document takes one off.
View Change History — every change with who made it and when, for example “Supporting document added: Audit Policy” or “Archived — replaced by a newer charter”.
Archive — you are asked to confirm: “It stays on record with its history but can no longer be changed. Locations it covered will use the nearest charter above them.”
Note: Archived charters are still listed under All statuses. Filter Status to Active to see only the charters in force.
Review dates
When a charter’s Next Review date has passed, the date shows in red with Review overdue. Overdue reviews are counted on the coverage line and on the Audit Charter dashboard widget. Update the charter with new dates once it has been reviewed.
What happens where no charter is in force
The No active charter setting controls what happens when an audit is scheduled or published at a location with no charter in force (its own, inherited or organisation-wide). Changing it saves straight away.
Off (the default) — nothing is checked.
Warn — an amber message is shown, but the audit can still be scheduled and published. The audit history records it: “The audit <reference> was scheduled with no audit charter in force for its location”, and the same when it is published.
Block — a red message is shown, and the audit can’t be scheduled (Save as Scheduled and Apply & Start Audit are greyed out) or published until a charter is in force.
An inherited or organisation-wide charter counts, so a location with no charter of its own is fine as long as one above it has one.
Where people see the charter
Conflict of interest declaration — a View Audit Charter link with the charter’s title, when a charter is in force for the audit’s location.
Audits → About — a Your Audit Charter card for the current location, showing the title, version, status, where it is inherited from, approval and next review, with Open / Download.
Audits → Standards & Regulations — a View Audit Charter link.
Dashboard — the Audit Charter widget: locations covered, charters in force, locations without a charter and reviews overdue.
If this doesn't work
“An Active or Under Review charter needs its effective date, who approved it and the approval date.” — fill in all three, or save as Draft.
“Add the effective date, approved by, approval date before setting this charter as Active.” — use Update Charter to add them first.
Next review is empty — it is only filled in automatically until you change it yourself. Pick the date.
Your entries disappeared — clicking outside the form closes it without saving. Use Save.
You can’t see the Audit Charter tab — you need Manage Audit Settings.
Related articles
Audit Settings: the seven tabs
Completing the conflict of interest declaration
Audit widgets on your dashboard
The Review & Publish checklist