Communication Audit and Auditing

A communication audit is an assessment tool used for formative, diagnostic, or evaluative research in public relations. The term audit, appropriated from the accounting field, has ambiguous meaning in public relations. Both the trade press and academic texts used the term to describe a wide variety of research approaches with distinct objectives, methodologies, and study populations. Some describe a communication audit as a comprehensive study of all an organization's stakeholder groups and their perceptions of the organization, whereas others define the term more narrowly. In general, all these approaches refer to a research process designed to identify perceptions of the organization or its communication vehicles and culminate in appropriate recommendations for action to management. Communication audits are commonly used by corporations, hospitals, and other large organizations to assess the organization's image among its employees, customers, community residents and leaders, media, and other key publics. Audits are a standard offering of public relations research firms and larger public relations agencies, although various firms may define their audit services differently.

Typically, the audit process begins with an interview with top management to determine the objectives and focus of the audit, specific issues or questions that the audit should address, and key publics to be audited. Then, appropriate methodologies for each group are selected and research instruments developed. Surveys, focus groups, interviews with opinion leaders, and content analysis of organizational publications and media coverage are common research techniques. Often, a package of several research techniques is employed. Data are gathered and analyzed, and a report is written that interprets the research findings and makes recommendations to management for future actions. The findings of a communication audit may serve as a tool to justify a change in strategic direction, to justify funding for new programs, or to help a public relations program gain management approval for such changes.