Is your audit report getting the attention it deserves? By making a few simple changes, you can catch the attention of your stakeholders while maintaining your credibility.
In this customized course, we will weigh a variety of ideas to refresh your reports and streamline and simplify the performance audit reporting process in order to preserve your team’s sanity!
This course is beneficial for both new and experienced auditors and works best when the whole team participates.
New auditors learn how to use the elements of a finding to structure their message and back up their statements with firm evidence.
Experienced auditors learn how to set clear expectations, quickly review audit reports, and coach staff to improve their writing.
Much of our discussion will center on the five elements of a finding – as required by the GAO’s Yellow Book performance audit reporting standards and suggested by the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Topics include:
- Structure audit content in support of audit recommendations
- Create convincing, implementable and auditable recommendations
- Generate concise and logical findings in an hour or less
- Choose the strongest content for your finding
- Decide how much detail to share in the report
- Quantify findings
- Enhance the readability of your report
- Recognize dangerous tone and language
- Establish expectations and guidelines for creating a compelling finding
- Decide when to pursue the root cause
- Focusing the report conclusion on a finite, answerable objective
- Sort out insignificant complaints and focus on significant risks
- Choose methodologies that support performance audit report conclusions and findings
- Draft your audit findings and imagine your conclusions at the end of planning
- Gather the strongest evidence for your most controversial statements
Program level: Intermediate
Instructional method: Group live instruction
Prerequisites: More than one year of audit experience
Who should attend: Performance auditors who write or review audit reports
Recommended CPE credit: 12+ hours
Questions? You can find our FAQ here.
What People Say About This Course
“I highly recommend anyone who is conducting audits to attend at least one training with Leita. The class is structured and informative and everyone can take something away from it. I was very pleased!” – Performance Audit Reporting participant
“I enjoyed the content and pace of the training today and yesterday. It was the second time I’d participated in your training…The first training session…helped guide my practice through major office changes, two being no Director/CAE and Audit Manager for 10 months. Lose of these two roles (out of six) made a hugely negative impact to refining audit objectives, building an audit program, and clearly communicating to/with management. <new paragraph>At this time, having only 1 1/2 years of internal audit experience and hardly any at planning or report writing, your training and print materials helped me navigate the open seas!
The new boss came in all about the FIVE ELEMENTS so, naturally we were signed up for Audit Reporting.
Audit Reporting, reinforced why/how to tie the planning and testing to supporting anything worth mentioning: To best communicate with reviewers and to bring the value to the audience, flush out less useful findings and wording in the reports. The session brought an end-in-mind approach to quickly deliver the best value.
Not to mention, your sense a humor was appreciated…[It] brought a pleasant interruption to the dreary subject of Internal Audit.” – Esther Villarreal, Internal Auditor Intermediate
“Thank you for a very enjoyable learning event.” – Performance Audit Reporting participant
“It was a very enjoyable class and I’m sure we learn[ed] a lot of new information.” – Performance Audit Reporting participant
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