AB Acid Test Audit – outline structure

The AB Acid Test Audit was developed by Tim Buckley and Katie Macaulay. It helps companies identify how internal communications were failing and how to sort them out.

Objectives: To identify gaps in internal communication structures across levels of an organisation – leadership team, senior, middle and junior management, shop floor – with a view to understanding the communication requirements for a company.

Methodology: Working closely with the internal communication team, AB develops the audit questionnaire that covers the following types of topic:

1. The level of understanding of the business strategy and their own role within it.
2. The obstacles facing the business, both internal and external.
3. What their vision of the business success would be.
4. An assessment of different communication tools.
5. The risks and obstacles associated with initiatives to improve internal communications.
6. What needs to be done to improve internal communications at the business.

The senior management board (or its equivalent) and selected individuals at different levels of the organisation are then interviewed individually – each being asked the same set of questions. At the completion of the process, all the interviews are collated and the differences contrasted – illustrating the most obvious gaps.

Recommendations are then put forward illustrating how each gap can be plugged. The full findings are reported back to the board and the key findings are fed back to at least those who took part in the audit.

The acid test audit has been used by several of AB’s clients including:

Moss Bros
Campbell's
Coats plc
Barclays plc
British Red Cross

In each case, the audit has provided an invaluable insight for the leadership team into how effective their internal communication processes are and how far understanding about the organisation’s strategy extends across the business. The audit has provided both a launch pad for internal communication strategies and a key direction indicator for how to best direct employee communication resources.

It is a thought-provoking tool that delivers results in a very cost effective way. At this year’s International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) conference in Los Angeles, delegates described the Acid Test Audit as “awesome, innovative, thought provoking” and “absolutely brilliant!”.