Improving audit efficiency - tools, processes and strategies

This course showcases ideas, tools, processes and strategies to help you to improve your efficiency as an audit team and help you improve the value and business relevance of your work.

Who should attend?

This course is open to all

What will I learn?

Upon completion you will be able to:

• deploy visualisation techniques to help improve the portrayal of processes, risks and controls
• execute strategies to help optimise the audit process
• deploy software tools to help improve audit performance and the scope of reviews performed; and
• use techniques to improve both the speed of production and the quality of audit reports.

Delegates will spend a good proportion of course time discussing issues or dealing with the practicalities of auditing. The course is accompanied by a fully detailed manual that holds detailed course notes, examples and practical work.

Course programme

Tools: visual and analytical influencing

• why is visualisation important to my report readers?
• visualisation: highlighting control structures
• visualisation: highlighting risks
• visualisation: alternative workflows
• visualisation: roles and segregation
• visualisation: risk and control strengths using themes
• analytics: process quantification
• analytics: the cost of control.

Processes: audit process optimisation

• what really adds value?
• matters that impact perceived value added through the audit function         
• applying LEAN to internal audit
• audit process optimisation: creating better flow and sequence
• audit optimisation: using both serial and parallel activity
• audit optimisation: time cycles and wait states
• agile – how is this relevant to internal auditors?
• agile – how it might be applied to internal audit.

Strategies: software to aid common tasks

• tools to help persuasion and influencing
• tools to assist or speed up common tasks
• tools to assist IT audit
• tools to assist retrieval of text and values from documents
• tools to assist fuzzy data matching
• tools to help paperless working.

Strategies: Report writing

• report writing: using graphics
• report writing: quality improvements – self-checking guidelines
• report writing: quality improvements – managerial and team rules
• report writing: speed improvements – sparse reporting
• report writing: speed improvements – bottlenecks and pinch points.

CPE competency areas covered

• Improvement and innovation
• Critical thinking

7 CPE points

Full price

Member: £625 + VAT
Non-member: £840 + VAT

SAVE £100 when you book this course 3 months in advance

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