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, making them better internal audit leaders who deliver impactful and insightful internal audit work that can make a strategic difference to their organization.

Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• 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

Training Methodology

A blend of theoretical, technical, discursive and practical approaches. It will include facilitator-led input sessions, and numerous team exercises based around practical internal audit situations, case studies, group presentations, discussions and debates.

Who Should Attend?

Chief audit executives, deputy heads of audit, internal audit managers and senior internal auditors who deal with business leaders and/or lead or manage members of the internal audit team. This course is equally valuable for both in-house and outsourced internal audit teams.

Target Competencies

• Internal audit management
• Improvement and innovation
• Internal audit delivery
• Persuasion and collaboration
• Governance, risk and control enhancement

Course Outline

      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 vs 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 vs 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