Are There Any Reasons Why Marketing Cannot be Audited in the Same Way as Financial Accounts?

The increasing speed and turbulence of the business environment and a shorter product life cycle are testifying the necessity, for every firm, to develop a critical review of the overall marketing goals and effectiveness. Waiting for problems to become evident or tragic situations to occur is the attitude of below-average companies and is likely to drive them out of the market boundaries. Firms have to implement a strategic control instrument that defines problems and offer possibilities and clues. The Marketing Audit “a comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic examination of a company’s […] marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with

a view to determining problem areas and opportunities and recommending a plan of action to improve the company’s market performance” (Kotler, 2000) is the answer. The Marketing Audit is therefore the way companies assess the effectiveness and efficiency of all their marketing procedures preparing a solid base for a strategic development.

Although all these analysis have a ‘wide’ sight, the auditor cannot avoid evaluating the profitability of the company. Only if the business creates profit can the marketing strategy be effective. PDSC (Pacific Decision Science Corporation – an American consulting and systems implementation company), for example, uses marketing cost accounting principles in order to measure the marginal profit contribution of the marketing strategy.

The marketing audit allows companies to understand, in an objective way, their strategic position and take advantages of the mistakes done in the past or the opportunities that will take place in the future. To some extent the main characteristics, the key steps and the areas of the marketing audits are the same as the financial audits. Being a practical tool, with a fairly schematic procedure, then “there is no reason why marketing cannot be audited in the same way as accounts, in spite of its more innovative, subjective nature” (Baker, 1999). In fact, the marketing audit is to the marketing department what a financial audit is to the accounting department. Having said this, the outcomes and the suggestions derived from a marketing audit are completely different from a financial audit. “Whereas two certified public accountants will handle an audit assignment using approximately the same methodology, two marketing auditors are likely to bring different conceptions of the auditing process to their task” (Kotler and al., 1989).

Although the auditors can collect a vast amount of data directly from the Internet, and therefore without moving from their office, the biggest part of their job is played on the field, gathering data directly from interviews. However, during this procedure, different problems may arise. Managers in the function under audit tend to feel threatened by the auditor. For this reason, the results may be biased and the data collected may drive the auditor in the wrong direction. Moreover, new data sources may appear during the audit and therefore the auditors need to be ready to investigate new areas. Similarly, they need to evaluate how important and relevant the findings are that have been gathered from interviews. It often happens that personnel use the marketing audit to express their negative feelings about the company.

The biggest problem comes from the executive who commissions the marketing audit. Usually, when managers call for an audit, they expect far too much from the outcomes and the resources it seems to offer. They believe it has to develop surprising results or propose new incredible prospects. On the other hand, the auditor may encounter scepticism and opposition when the time comes to expose the results. Therefore, the marketing audit has to be closed with a clear presentation of the findings where the auditor indicates the further necessary steps

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