I am in the audit department of a large bank. Curious to know what, if any, audit of branches other banks are doing. We do have a branch operations function that performs periodic assessments of branches (basically the same steps that we would do in audit). I'm thinking that we should review the results of those reviews (for for adequacy of steps performed as well for issues noted at the branch), since really that is the control. Thoughts?

Many banks that I know of (including my own when managing the audit department)have a similar system and they might actually pick several branches to visit to validate the internal reviews along with reviewing the overall results. The days of annual audits at each branch is long gone.

Not at our bank. I do an audit of each branch every year. Our Audit Committee feels that it is a good idea for them to know that someone is checking on them. We are a small comunity bank with 10 branches so it isn't that difficult. Risk wise, I know this is not where the greatest risk is, but we had a nearby bank lose several hundred thousand dollars because no one ever went to the branch or looked at the operations there.

If you haven't implemented some sort of internal controls at the branches as described above, then you are probably relegated to such a chore. Did you ever ask the "nearby bank" if they audited their branches regularly?

They did not. No one had been in the branch in years.

I audit for a small community bank, I also do annual branch audits, as well as follow-up on any findings.

We have 30 branches and audit them based on risk. High risk branches (none currently) are audited annually, moderate risk branches (some) are audited every two years and low risk branches (most) are audited every 3 years.

Otherwise, we rely on someone in branch operations who does nothing but surprise cash counts and smaller versions our our comprehensive audits at all branches quarterly for high and moderate risk branches and semi-annually for low risk branches.