Description
A logically organized report is a gift to the reader. In this course, you will learn how to create meaningful, concise reports based on compelling evidence. We will walk through significant steps of the audit planning process to learn how to filter out irrelevant information and focus on what matters. Participants will learn how to create limited audit objectives which result in reasonable and supportable audit conclusions.
This class is beneficial for both new and experienced internal and legislative auditors.
New auditors learn how to use the elements of a finding to structure their message. Experienced auditors learn how to set clear expectations, quickly review audit reports, and coach staff to improve their writing.
The class is centered on the five elements of a finding, as required by the GAO’s Yellow Book and suggested by the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Learning objectives:
- 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
- Create attention grabbing executive summaries easily
- Consider the necessity and usefulness of other sections of the audit report
- Sequence findings for maximum impact
- Evaluate statements of fact for evidential support
- Quantify findings
- Recognize dangerous tone and language
- Establish expectations and guidelines for creating a compelling finding
- Decide when to pursue the root cause
- Filter out irrelevant findings
- Break down a broad audit subject
- Formulate a conclusion and recommendations
- Focus the report conclusion on a finite, answerable objective
Participants are asked to submit a recent report to Leita two weeks before the seminar. These reports will be used as examples during the course. Leita will only show the reports online during the class to maintain your report’s confidentiality.
Program level: Intermediate
Instructional method: Group live instruction
Prerequisites: More than one year of audit experience
Who should attend: Internal and legislative auditors who write or review audit reports
Recommended CPE credit: 16+ hours
Questions? You can find our FAQ here.
What People Say About This Course
“What I learned will definitely change the way I approach writing a finding.” – Audit Reporting Clinic participant
“Leita is a great teacher and has wonderful and insightful ideas! I loved the stories that she shared and the technology she used.” – Audit Reporting Clinic participant
“I really liked the idea of separating organization, readability, and mechanical editing into separate phases. I will definitely be using this. I think it will cut out a ton of re-working in our reporting process.” – Audit Reporting Clinic participant
“I liked how personable Leita was, and how she made the topics relevant.“ – Audit Reporting Clinic participant
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