High Impact Internal Audit Leadership

Introduction:

This course will focus on the challenges and opportunities internal audit leaders face and show you how you can make a contribution at a strategic level, clearly adding value and also enhancing productivity in the audit process. This training will help you improve your awareness and skills and help you become a better internal audit leader. 

Targeted Groups:

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

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Express greater confidence while interacting with senior leaders.
• know what it takes to lead an internal audit team successfully, grasp how to contribute strategically and successfully, and how to drive corporate success overall.
• Understand the purpose of your internal audit function and how it fits into the "assurance jigsaw," as this will have an impact on your major leadership priorities. 
• Utilize realistic strategies to control important interactions with the audit committee, senior management, and peers.
• By using effective internal auditing practices, you can add value.
• learn how to effectively manage your important connections with the audit committee, top management, and peers. 
• have a clear understanding of what it truly means to provide insight and create value, as well as good practices in relation to your team’s efficiency and productivity

Targeted Competencies:

• leadership, management and risk-based planning
• risk management in the internal audit function 
• managing internal audit resources 
• managing the internal audit engagement process 
• marketing internal audit and effective stakeholder relations 
• delivering added value and insight
• getting the best from your quality assurance and improvement program

Course Content
Unit 1: Internal Audit Leadership

• The importance of steady management
• Effective leadership
• A reminder of leadership and management theory
• The inspirational internal audit leader
• Qualities of an effective 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

Unit 2: Effective Internal Audit Planning

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

Unit 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

Unit 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

Unit 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 program
• Internal assessments
• External assessments
• Elements of the improvement program