Importance Of Knowledge Audit Based On Case Studies

Discuss about the  knowledge audit and its importance based on respective case studies.

This assignment deals with knowledge audit and that deals with understanding of the knowledge requirements of an entity and how they can achieve their desired goals and their overall loopholes in terms of the lack of knowledge can also be found from the help of knowledge audit. The assignment is based on a UK Company that deals with reducing the overall emission of energy and thus they need to draw up a strategy of key management practices that can help them in achieving their desired goals and achieve their targets with repsect to reuction in the emission of energy.

Project background, objectives and strategies.

Knowledge provides the basis for the organizations to understands what knowledge is required to run their operations and their current activities. They also help in identifying the gaps in the knowledge which may be causing a harm to the operations of the company and is not letting it to grow. In this assignment a case study has been provided about an organisation that is struggling to get hold of its activities a being analyst we need to provide them ways by which they can improve their present business conditions and work effectively to achieve desired goals with the help of IT based system and analytical models (Explaining auditors’ propensity to issue going-concern opinions in Australia after the global financial crisis, 2017). Thus, the application of knowledge audit comes into picture which aims at improving the current position by analysing what are the processes of the company, what are the ways in which they can achieve their desired goals, what is the lack in the present system and how companies can get over the same for feasible outcome. There are methods to be followed in case of conducting knowledge based audit and that aims at few things mainly getting the information from the people who are working in the company belonging to various departments, understanding the overall mission and vision of the company, taking into the short term and long-term goals of the management of the company and seeing what are the areas in which the company is lacking in achieving the same. Thus, we see that knowledge audits have a wide base and can be applied and followed in various companies especially sick units, companies who are looking for expansion, companies that are having huge amount of non-performing assets etc. These companies can hire experts to audit their present scenarios and suffice them with ways by which they can improve their conditions and achieve their goals (Wang, Chiu, li, & Hsiao, 2018).

Stakeholders

In the given case study, we see that the organization is having a long-term goal of reducing the overall energy emission of the UK Government. Based on this goal the organization have made a list of the probable areas in which they want to invest, the technologies they want to adopt and the strategies that they want to follow which can help them in this goal of them. The success of this project depends upon the high knowledge prospects of its partners and peers and thus it is highly driven on knowledge and thus the need of the knowledge audit arises to understand how the organization can go forward with their aim of achieving their goals and what are the areas in which they need to improve (Explaining auditors’ propensity to issue going-concern opinions in Australia after the global financial crisis, 2017). The key management practices were given utmost importance in this organization and auditors were asked to conduct knowledge audit. The overall knowledge audit was designed in such a manner that –

• It would aim to track the overall flow of knowledge between all the departments both internal and external.
• It would find the overall knowledge gap in the system and look for probable bottlenecks that are hampering the flow of information.
• It would determine which knowledge assets are the most important to the organization in achieving the desired goals.

The overall audit of the given organization was completed within two months and specific disclosures were given with respect to the changes that the organization needs to make in its present system.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders are the people who are dependent on the company to deliver them for good results for which they invest their money in the company. Thus, it’s important that they should have clear details about whether and how the company is performing (Delone & Mclean, 2004). The stakeholders along with the investors includes other people also and that will include the shareholders, the employees, the public. The company is aiming to reduce the overall consumption of energy and hence in that case the stakeholders are also dependant on them to get the best results (Chron, 2017). Thus, we see that knowledge audit aims at delivering the best results to the people who are connected to the company in some way. It will help the management of the company in finding areas in which there is a need of change and how they can channelize their opinions and efforts to get the best results overall. Thus, auditors are appointed to analyse the correct system and suggest methods by which they can improve it and make sure that the client gets the best support what is possible. This also aims to improve the robust communication between external and internal sources so that in future there is a connect between the actions of the company and its overall reaction on the related parties.

Business context and business case

Business context and business case

The overall business case is related to a UK Government that brings together the collective knowledge, expertise and experience of its diverse membership to address future energy challenges, and aims to reduce the overall consumption of energy based on that aspect. They aim to reduce the energy emission and they hope to reach the targets that have been set by UK standards. Based on this the organization aims to initiates such projects that would aim to improve the position of the companies and help them in reaching such goals. These plans are mostly sustainable affordable and energy efficient. They have initiated investments in such projects that would help in reducing the gaps between the high investment projects on paper and their commercial application. This organization works with many national and international companies, small big enterprises and many others and has been able to prepare many projects based on science, engineering and technology. What drives the success of these projects is the high knowledge of the project partners. They have understood the needs of the key management policies and practices to improve efficiency among the company, thus they have started focusing on developing such strategies and for that they have appointed auditors to conduct energy audits and let them know what are the areas of potential gaps and how they can recover from that (Bouret, 2017).

Statement of current business processes and problems

Audit was conducted by taking interviews of 12 selected participants that belonged to different departments of the entities and questions were asked to understand how they were dealing with the internal details of the work and in what areas are they facing some problem if any. After the sessions were conducted, the auditors have proposed the following strengths and weakness of the given company based on the knowledge audit that was conducted by the organisation.

Strengths

• The information with regards to individuals was stored on shared drives and thus it was present within the system. Most of the documented information was converted into electronic paper forms and were then uploaded to the drives that were accessible to the employees of the company through intranet and thus this sufficed that there should be maximum amount of security.
• The employees had taken initiative to develop communication networks that helps in the flow of information among the organization.
• The employees of the company are aware of the confidential and non-confidential information and hence filters them before communicating to other.
• There are various forums and meeting taking place to share knowledge and the employees have labelled the company as an open-minded organization.
• Since there is a lot of coordination between the members of the communication team it ensures better external communication for the company.
• Some individuals have guidance notes which ensures that there is a continuity of task.

Weakness

• The major weakness includes with respect to technology where people who are not accustomed to technology finds it difficult to adapt.
• There is a lot of dependency on certain individuals for certain projects and their unavailability can cause a lot of delay(Alsagoff, 2010).
• The availability of the employees is sometime a big problem.
• Most of the organization department is quite which make it difficult to have informative conversation among the employees.
• Most of the information is technical and hence it would be difficult to understand the overall knowledge requisite of the organisation on a subject.
• Sometimes the information that are sent to external shareholders may not be correct and might be duplicated.
• The structure of data is complex and there is a lack of user friendly tools which makes it difficult to have quality information in place and employees find it difficult to use these search tools and hence this might lead to a delay in the information provided.

The major recommendation that have been stated would include:

Development of a knowledge system as per which flow of information would occur in all departments among the employees.

Database and journals would be developed when people might need to look when they need some important information.

Make the overall base for the employees more transparent which they can need in doing their work.

To make the overall meeting for the employees and department more effective by including more departments there in so that others have an idea on how the company is working and what are th changes that they are initiating in their overall work (Durtschi, 2004).

Statement of current business processes and problems

The idea is to improve the overall communication of information between various regions and departments of the company so that all the employees can have access to it and it should be understandable to them and hence layman language should be used.

Method of evaluation for the users

The method of evaluation for the users should be to see that the new system has helped in making the flow of information easy and reliable and there are less issues that the employees were facing before the new system came into picture.  The benchmarking can be done in a way that standards can be set with repsect to the level of reduction desired and care should b etaken to ensure that it is achieved. In case that is achieved it can be said that the organization have been able to make the best use of the audit facilities that were provided. The recommendations needs to be fulfilled and then only it can be said that the goals have been achieved in case of the given company (Abdullah & Said, 2017).

Conclusion

Based on the overall analysis it can be said that the overall base of knowledge audit is very strong, it is different from normal audit that is done and makes people more inclined towards the changes that they need to bring in their system. Knowledge audits are the best ways of udnertsanding where is the organisation lacking. As stated before it can be applied in various situations like sick units, companies who are looking for expansion, companies that are having huge amount of non-performing assets etc. These companies can hire experts to audit their present scenarios and suffice them with ways by which they can improve their conditions and achieve their goals. In case of the given company they were facing issues with respect to developing key management practices which can help them in running their business smoothly and knowledge audit can help them in this regards in the best ways possible. It is helpful for the management of the company and for the employees who can understand what are the areas in which they need to perform more. It involves a lot of technical understanding and hence it is important that experts should be hired who are having knowledge about the industry in which the company is operating. Thus overall it is a great approach for organizations to follow. The impression is to improve the overall communication of information between various regions and departments of the company so that all the employees can have access to it and it should be understandable to them and hence layman language should be used.

References

Abdullah, W., & Said, R. (2017). Religious, Educational Background and Corporate Crime Tolerance by Accounting Professionals. State-of-the-Art Theories and Empirical Evidence, 129-149.

Alsagoff, N. (2010). Microsoft Excel as a tool for digital forensic accounting.

Bouret, I. (2017). Benefits of higher education in mid-life: A life course agency perspective. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 23(1), 15-31.

Chron. (2017). five-common-features-internal-control-system-business. Retrieved december 07, 2017, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-common-features-internal-control-system-business-430.html

Delone, W., & Mclean, E. (2004). Measuring e-Commerce Success: Applying the DeLone & McLean Information Systems Success Model. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 9(1).

Durtschi, C. H. (2004). The Effective Use of Benford’s Law to Assist in Detecting Fraud in Accounting Data. Journal of Forensic Accounting, 17-34.

Explaining auditors’ propensity to issue going-concern opinions in Australia after the global financial crisis. (2017). Accunting and Finance, Carson,E;Fargher,N;Zhang,Y;.

Wang, Z., Chiu, Y., li, Y., & Hsiao, L. (2018). Performance appraisal for the operation and management of listed and OTC Taiwanese companies with DEA benchmarking model