ONFANO’s GAP / Readiness Assessment gives you a clear picture of where you stand and what to improve with minimal disruption and maximum value (We know how minimum disruption is important for you).

This service is ideal if you are:

• Preparing for your first EQA
• Not fully confident about your current QAIP
• Recently experienced leadership or organisational change
• Seeking an independent view before presenting to regulators or other stakeholders

What We Deliver
✔ Clear overview of your current maturity
We benchmark your internal audit function against the IPPF and other leading practices, as well as expectations from your stakeholders, identifying strengths, gaps, and areas of vulnerability.
✔ A roadmap to the highest level of conformance
We provide practical, prioritised actions to help you reach full readiness for an EQA.
✔ Independent confirmation of where you stand
Our assessment brings objectivity and clarity, supporting management and the Board with fact-based insights.

How Our GAP / Readiness Assessment Works – Step by Step
1. Rapid Discovery & Scope Alignment
We quickly assess your needs and identify your approximate maturity level:

• Are you preparing for an EQA?
• Do you need assurance before speaking to regulators?
• Do you want to strengthen IA performance or credibility?

We define the exact scope and deliverables. Depending on your expectations and current state we propose one of two existing approaches: Full Readiness Assessment or High-level Gap Assessment. usually a focused 1–3 week engagement.

a) Full Gap Assessment:
We provide a holistic evaluation of your internal audit function, including:

• Conformance with the Global Internal Audit Standards.
• Mandate, charter, strategy, methodologies, processes, risk assessment, and internal audit plan.
• Compliance with applicable laws and/or regulations.
• Performance criteria and measures as well as assessment results.
• Competencies and due professional care, including the sufficient use of tools and techniques, and focus on continual development.
• Qualifications and competencies, including those of the chief audit executive role.
• Integration into the organization’s governance processes, including i- Contribution to the organization’s governance, risk management, and control processes, ii- Contribution to the improvement of the organization’s operations and ability to attain its objectives.
• Ability to meet expectations articulated by the board, senior management, and stakeholders.

The only difference between the Full GAP Assessment and External Quality Assessment is that the former does not consider scoring and / or determination of Conformance level.

b) High Level GAP Assessment / Documentation & Methodology Review
We review your key guidelines:

• Internal Audit Charter, methodology and QAIP
• Planning and risk assessment approach
• Templates, policies, manuals
• Sample audit files

This reveals design-level gaps or inconsistencies before looking at practice.

2. Light Stakeholder Engagement (Optional)
Where needed, we conduct short interviews with the CAE, audit team, or key stakeholders to understand:

• How IA is perceived
• Independence and positioning
• Communication effectiveness

This step is flexible depending on time and client needs.

3. GAP Analysis Against IIA Standards
We compare your function against the Global Internal Audit Standards. We identify what is already strong, what is partially compliant, and what is missing.

4. Readiness Rating
In line with the assessment type selected, your IA function receives an easy-to-understand readiness scale:

• EQA-Ready: Strong Candidate
• Close to Ready: Requires Limited Adjustments
• Not Yet Ready: Key Gaps Identified

This rating helps the CAE communicate clearly with the Board.

5. Improvement Roadmap
You receive a focused, actionable roadmap that may include:

• Methodology enhancements
• Charter or QAIP updates
• Training needs
• Documentation improvements
• Process simplifications
• Tools and templates to adopt

The roadmap is prioritised so you can reach conformance efficiently.

7. Executive Debrief
We present our findings to the CAE or Board, ensuring:

• Clear understanding of the current position
• Transparent explanation of gaps
• Practical steps to reach Conformance

Why Choose ONFANO for Readiness Assessments?

• Independent, objective, and highly qualified assessors: We offer deep expertise in Internal Audit, Governance, Risk Management and Control areas based on qualifications and huge relevant experience of our experts.
• Balanced, practical insights: We offer practical solutions rather than infeasible theory. 
• Action-oriented guidance: We are focused on raising your audit function’s performance rather than merely compliance with the Standards.
• Additional services free of charge: We provide you with the methodology on the Internal Quality Assessments and perform Follow-up review on implementation of the action points and progress against deliverables.

ONFANOs GAP / Readiness Assessment ensures you start your EQA journey from a position of strength with clarity, confidence, and a clear path forward.