Nonaudit

Nonaudit is a term used in governance, risk management, and information systems to describe aspects of a process, system, or operation that are not subject to formal auditing. It can refer to areas explicitly excluded from audit coverage as well as modes in which auditing features are deactivated or not activated for practical reasons, such as performance constraints, privacy concerns, or during certain maintenance activities.

In accounting and regulatory contexts, nonaudit provisions may emerge when routine, low-risk activities fall outside the scope of external audits under applicable rules, or when organizations adopt a risk-based approach that concentrates audit resources on higher-risk domains. In IT and security, nonaudit may denote components where audit logs are minimized or omitted temporarily; it is important that such decisions are documented, approved, and accompanied by compensating controls to preserve risk visibility.

Implications: Pros include reduced overhead and faster operations for low-risk areas; cons include diminished traceability, potential conflicts with compliance requirements, and opportunities for fraud if not properly mitigated. Effective implementation requires clear scope definitions, governance oversight, formal change management, and explicit expiration or review timelines for nonaudit status.

See also: auditing, internal audit, external audit, logging, compliance, risk management.