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

Concerning the methodology, it is clear how the two instruments rely on the same approach. The real difference, however, is based on the analysis. Financial audits tend to "be an investigation of the company's financial statement, designed to determine the fairness of the presentation" (Meigs, 1998). On the other hand, marketing audits are likely to match the organisation's strategy with the environment and operational and strategic aspects with the marketing programs. As an extreme example, part of the financial audit may be included in the marketing audit. In fact, the analysis of the company's profitability is already a financial step. For instance, a company may decide to hire a marketing controller in order to analyse its marketing costs and profitability. This person would be able to prepare a sort of financial audit for the marketing strategy.

The marketing audit has a broad scope and it aims to bring to the managers a clearer view of the whole business. Considering the definition of financial audit it is easy to see that its scope is narrower. The financial audit checks how the directors have dealt with the assets of the company on behalf of the shareholders. That is to say that it analyses the form of the financial statement in order to express opinion on it. Marketing audits are far more comprehensive. In fact, it intends to answer the questions: "are we doing the right things?" and "are we doing things right?" The financial audit can only answer the question "did we do the things right?"

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).

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 the company must follows in order to implement its strategy. The audit is valuable only if it delivers a

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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)