High Impact Internal Audit Leadership

Introduction

Today’s chief audit executives, their deputies and internal audit managers need to work closely with business leaders, boards, audit committees, peers and their own audit teams. Now more than ever, leadership, stakeholder relations and influencing skills are becoming as important as managing a team, planning and delivering insightful internal audit assurance and consulting engagements.

This course focuses on the various challenges and opportunities internal audit leaders face and shows how audit leaders can make a contribution at a strategic level, clearly adding value and also enhancing productivity in the audit process.

This clear, practical and interactive course will help participants improve their awareness and skills and help them become a better internal audit leader who delivers impactful and insightful internal audit work that can make a strategic difference to their organization.

Course Objectives

• Demonstrate greater confidence in dealing with senior leaders.
• Appraise what it really takes to be an effective internal audit leader.
• Explain how to make effective and valuable contributions at a strategic level and towards overall business success.
• Apply practical methods to manage key relationships with the audit committee, senior management and peers.
• Add value through efficient and effective internal audit good practices.
• Explain key priorities for them and their departments to help maximize their contribution to their organization.

Course Outlines

Day 1
Internal Audit Leadership

• Effective leadership.
• The importance of steady management.
• Qualities of an effective internal audit leader.
• A reminder of leadership and management theory.
• The inspirational internal audit leader.
• Large versus small internal audit teams.
• The mission statement and definition of internal auditing.
• Relevant attribute and performance standards.
• Challenges all internal audit leaders face.
• Resolving common challenges.

Day 2
Effective Internal Audit Planning

• Determining risk maturity.
• Designing the risk-based assurance universe.
• Developing an effective internal audit strategy.
• How you develop your universe and strategy.
• Coordination with other assurance providers.
• Advantages and disadvantages of working with other assurance providers.
• Determining the annual or six-monthly internal audit plan.
• Delivering the plan and working in an agile way.
• Discussion: Good practice planning.
• Internal audit delivery today and building team capability for tomorrow.

Day 3
Getting Maximum Impact from our Internal Audit Resources

• Securing the necessary internal audit resources.
• Managing internal audit resources.
• Dealing with the dispersed team.
• Ensuring an effective internal audit engagement process.
• Maximizing efficiency.
• Managing co-sourcing and contractors.
• In-house versus outsourced contractors.
• Risk management in the internal audit function.
• Risk identification and management for internal audit.

Day 4
Stakeholder Relationship Management

• Perceptions of internal audit.
• Stakeholder analysis.
• Effective stakeholder relations.
• Marketing internal audit.
• Internal audit’s product mix.
• Best practice stakeholder management.
• Effective reporting and recommendations.
• Conflict management, negotiation and persuasion.
• Networking.
• Conflict and solutions.

Day 5
Insight, Added Value and Quality Assurance

• What is insight.
• Delivering insight and impact.
• Enhancing and protecting organizational value.
• Adding value through assurance and consulting.
• The power and perils of advisory work.
• The quality assurance and improvement programme.
• Internal assessments.
• External assessments.
• Elements of the improvement program.