How to Run and Deliver Successful and Timely Audits

In this seminar you will learn the process and steps necessary to ensure that the time spent on your audits is used effectively and efficiently to achieve optimal results. This seminar addresses the concepts to delivering a timely and successful audit outcome. During the course, you will:

• • Explore the reasons why audits fail
  • Identify the common and avoidable traps that result in audits overrunning their budgets and not answering key questions
  • Review the key components to planning and focusing the audit and how they can be managed to deliver an on-time product
  • Learn how to assess the audit environment to avoid surprises and how to utilize tools and methods to identify the high-risk areas
  • Discover how to deliver successful timely audits that add value to your organization

CONTENT

Defining a Successful Audit

• identifying the characteristics that define a successful audit

• key aspect of success

• identifying the factors that inhibit success

• addressing controllable and non-controllable obstacles

The Elements of a Successful Audit

• first steps–understanding why you are there

• role of the audit team

• Elements of the audit process that guarantee success

• The facilitators of the audit that make it work

Effectively Planning the Audit

• Why traditional audit planning doesn’t always lead to success

• Effective and successful elements of planning

• Levels of planning and responsibilities to plan

• planning resources

• planning at the macro and micro level

• brainstorming

Developing the Objective and Scope

• understanding the reasons for the audit

• why are you there

• answering the “why” question

• recognizing how time frames can impact achieving your goals

• Scope creep

Communication

• why this is the most important part of the audit

• biases and their impact

• working with difficult personalities

What You Need to Know

• How much is too much and how much is not enough

• Professional skepticism

• Rules of evidence

• identifying potential problem areas

• Knowns and unknowns

Identifying and Addressing Significant Risk

• understanding risk

• Some less obvious ways of identifying risk

Evaluating the Adequacy of the Control Structure

• Controls and risk

• using COSO in your audit

Focusing the Audit

• Effectively focusing audit resources to your mission

• answering key questions: why are we here and what are we expected to do?

• understanding the audit objective and scope

• establishing time frames

Tools to Ensure your Staff are Effectively Utilized

• Assessment of staff talents

• Assignment of responsibilities

• Oversight and supervision

Efficiencies and Time Wasters

• Procrastination

• managing administrative time

• Effective use of meeting time

• Ideas to maximize available time

Managing the Audit

• Day-by-day

• delegating

• Decision-making

Preliminary Findings and Reports

• Purpose and usefulness

• facilitating the writing process

• delivering an on-time product

TRAINING METHODOLOGY

The training methodology combines lectures, discussions, group exercises and illustrations. Participants will gain both theoretical and practical knowledge of the topics. The emphasis is on the practical application of the topics and as a result participant will go back to the workplace with both the ability and the confidence to apply the techniques learned to their duties.