What Is Evaluation?
Evaluation is all about identifying and understanding a particular process and then the willingness to redesign and improve the process or make the necessary alterations in the process to result in an improved achievement.
Basically, evaluation is considered as a learning tool as it is always done during the middle of the process or at the end of the process.
It is all about identifying and understanding the results of a process and their impacts and what can be the best alternatives to help in decision-making which would lead further improvement in the process.
The most important intention behind evaluation is to enable `learning-by-doing`. By `learning-by-doing` we mean that a process can be understood and performed in a better way only by doing it first and then finding out ways to improvise upon it.
Also it would further help in improving the results-oriented activities by re-engineering or say re-designing the ongoing activities and by crafting improved design for new ones.
The most important factor regulating evaluation is accountability; i.e. whether results are achieved or not and what are the reasons behind the success or failure of the process followed.
Evaluation comprises three things:
- Whether we are doing the right things
- Whether we are doing it right
- Whether there are better ways of doing it
What Is Audit?
Audit may be defined as an independent assurance activity designed with an objective to add value and improve the working and operations of a particular organization.
It is introduced to improve the control and governance processes in an organization and also to check the efficiency of risk management.
This is done by bringing in a systematic and disciplined approach to assess the overall working of the organization.
In audit, accountability is very important as it focuses on the success of the management framework and its appropriateness and provides assurance for the effective management practices in the organization.
Audit comprises:
- INTERNAL AUDIT: Here, auditing is done within the organization and reporting is done to the senior management of the organization.
- EXTERNAL AUDIT: Here, auditing is done by an independent entity and reporting is done to the governing body of the organization being audited.
Difference Between Evaluation And Audit
- Evaluation is a part of the Management Cycle(planning implementation evaluation)
- Audit is independent from Management Cycle since it comes into scene after the completion of Management Cycle.
- Evaluation talks about doing the right thing while audit talks about how the things are done.
- Evaluation involves doing it right while audit involves managing it right.
- Evaluation is about sustainability while audit is about efficiency.
- Evaluation approach follows good practices while audit works against norms.
- Evaluation is done at the end-of-phase while audit can be done any time.
- Anything can be evaluated while things falling under the management control only can be evaluated.