Seminar Description

Attend this course to become a more efficient/effective operational auditor. This seminar will assist in your development of necessary audit knowledge, skills and abilities. Many audit departments need auditors that can contribute to the audit team’s success immediately. The real-life examples and exercises will provide you with training on the primary aspects of how to conduct risk-based audits using accepted tools and techniques that align with professional standards. All phases of an audit engagement (e.g. planning, fieldwork, reporting and follow-up) will be included plus a high-level overview of the annual risk assessment/audit planning process. Tips and reference materials will be provided to help you upon your return to your audit department. Also, exercises/case studies will be used to reinforce the session learning concepts.

In this one day seminar, we will discuss the following important issues:

• Auditor knowledge, skills, abilities needed for success
• Independence & objectivity
• Ethics & professionalism
• Standards, guidance, frameworks & reference materials
• Certifications
• Continuous learning & career objectives
• Knowledge of the business/industry (business acumen)
• Audit documentation/evidence
• Professional judgment & critical thinking
• Tools & techniques
• Interviewing
• Phases of an audit (e.g. planning, fieldwork, reporting, follow-up)
• Risk-based auditing
• Productivity
• Governance, risk management & controls
• Audit’s role in fraud prevention & detection (high-level overview)
• Consulting (high-level overview)
• Primary stakeholders
• Audit customers & building relationships
• IT auditing (high-level overview)
• Risk assessment/audit planning (high-level overview)
• Communication (includes report writing, presentations, body language, etc.)

Learning Objectives

• Identify and share ten (10) important KSAs each auditor needs for success
• Discuss and provide examples of independence & objectivity issues and the impact to audits
• Understand why auditors must demonstrate high ethical conduct and professionalism to be effective
• Review and learn the required standards and strongly recommended guidance
• Provide risk management framework examples for application/use in identifying organizational risks
• Identify & discuss key certifications held by auditors and how achieving these increase auditor credibility, knowledge and opportunities for promotion
• Understand/learn the importance of continuous learning and how your career can be impacted in a positive manner
• Discuss how business acumen facilitates auditor effectiveness and methods to develop your business/industry knowledge
• Review the importance of competent, sufficient, relevant, useful and persuasive audit evidence
• Learn working paper leading practices to promote audit efficiency/effectiveness
• Discuss the meaning and application of professional judgment
• Identify the types of evidence and discuss methods, techniques and tools to gather information to support audit objectives/results
• Provide a sample of the critical thinking process
• Demonstrate how critical thinking helps improve audit evidence
• Provide an overview of how to use critical thinking in audits including root cause analysis
• Identify and share auditor tools & techniques
• Learn how to perform and practice interview interviews including the resulting audit follow-up work
• Understand the audit planning steps and their importance to an audit’s success
• Review the fieldwork steps and focus on the importance of testwork
• Summarize the audit results and communicate effectively with management
• Review the process to develop audit objectives and audit programs that identify the primary risk areas based on the allocation of limited audit hours
• Practice key elements of the audit process
• Understand what risk-based auditing entails & what steps need to be followed to perform a risk-based audit
• Share and analyze productivity approaches and decide which ones work best for you
• Provide a high-level overview of audit’s role in governance, risk management, control processes, fraud prevention/detection, IT audit and consulting
• Identify audit’s primary stakeholders and the importance of determining you meet their needs/expectations
• Learn to build relationships with audit customers and the positive impact to can have on internal audit and potentially your career
• Understand the relationship between annual risk assessment and engagement planning
• Learn to better communicate with audit customers and audit team members
• Provide reference materials for future use

You will leave the session able to:

• Perform an operational audit
• Contribute greater value to audits
• Communicate more effectively with audit customers/clients
• Understand your strengths & opportunities for further development
• Become more efficient & effective in conducting audits
• Understand when to seek assistance in audit areas of limited knowledge, skills & abilities

Who Should Attend

Internal Auditors

Prerequisites

Auditors with 1 to 2 years’ experience in order to draw upon their professional audit experience.

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