Understanding control testing and the shift to automation
Operating effectiveness testing remains one of the most labor-intensive activities in audit and compliance programs. Teams manually review large volumes of evidence, document results across disconnected tools and struggle to meet tightening requirements.
Control testing evaluates whether internal controls are properly designed and effectively operating to prevent errors, fraud and compliance breaches. It assesses two dimensions:
- Design effectiveness: Whether a control would mitigate the targeted risk if executed correctly
- Operating effectiveness: Whether the control functions as intended in practice, applied consistently over the required period
Automated control testing replaces these fragmented steps with structured, repeatable execution. RSM Beacon goes further by guiding teams from evidence intake through analysis and final documentation in a single platform—producing consistent, audit-ready results with full traceability.
What RSM Beacon helps solve:
- Manual, time-intensive control testing and documentation
- Disconnected workflows across evidence, analysis and reporting
- Inconsistent testing outputs and audit readiness challenges
- Limited ability to scale testing without increasing resources
- Slow turnaround on testing conclusions and inability to remediate quickly
