The Audit Balancing Act: Managing Time – April 2026

Description

$275 (per person) includes an online webinar for 4 hours of CPE credit

Government auditors often face tight deadlines while completing complex projects demanding precision and focus. This interactive, 4-hour live workshop equips auditors with practical tools and strategies to effectively manage time to meet deadlines with competing priorities. Attendees will learn how to prioritize time, organize everyday aspects of life, and become aware of practical ways to maintain balance throughout the audit cycle. Through practical exercises and guided discussions, auditors will leave with refreshed perspectives and a new clock set with actionable alarms to increase efficiency, reduce stress, and deliver higher-quality results on time.

Whether you are managing a solo engagement or leading a team, you do not have to stay stuck in reactive mode. This class will teach you how to set your clock to increase productivity, improve your work life balance and take control of each day.

This powerful 4-hour webinar features Frank W. Jones, a governmental auditor, manager, and trainer with over 35 years’ experience leading teams to execute complex audits of the Internal Revenue Service. Frank is an award-winning trainer for the Council of the Inspector General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and routinely delivers engaging presentations at conferences for the audit community.

Each objective below identifies common causes of time overruns, best practices, and strategies when applied to mitigate them.

Learning objectives:

• Define the interdependent phases of an audit and their impact on meeting milestones and performance measures
• Compare the relationship between the four types of overall audit objectives and how they should be integrated into report writing during planning and fieldwork phases to avoid last-minute bottlenecks
• Identify best practices to avoid scope-creep and digging rabbit holes that compromise audit timeliness and stakeholder confidence with audit results
• Define time management key factors that align with planned audit scope and methodologies
  Identify common time management myths, challenges, and best practices
• Recognize your time management style to identify how you naturally make decisions and approach tasks and priorities to reduce rework
• Describe how organizing, decluttering, and self-discipline improve time management

Program Level: Basic
Field of Study: Auditing (Governmental)
Who Should Attend: Governmental auditors who seek to learn new skills
Prerequisites: None
Advanced Preparation Required: None
Instructional Method: Webinar (Group Internet Based)
CPE Credit Hours: 4

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Central

Webinar Leader:

Frank W. Jones, CIA

Frank W. Jones, CIA, has an educational mission to inspire his students to go from being good auditors to great auditors.

Frank has trained thousands of auditors, from new hires to experienced executives. He regularly delivers presentations at the Institute of Internal Auditors, Association of Local Government Auditors, and Association of Government Auditors conferences. Frank thoroughly covers comprehensive aspects of performance auditing, leadership, and effective communication.

His in-person and online training sessions are full of relevant stories, engaging group activities, and interactive exercises that provide best practices for attendees to apply immediately in their audit engagements. The consensus is that Frank’s unique blend of high energy and positive outlook on life leaves class participants motivated, excited, and enthusiastic about their futures in auditing.

Frank began his career in 1989 with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Inspection Service Office of Audit and has been with Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) since its establishment in 1998. During his 36-year tenure, Frank completed complex audits of the IRS Examination, Collection, Criminal Investigation, Electronic Tax Administration, and Customer Service functional offices. He participated in several notable customer service reviews where he and his team conducted anonymous site visits to IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites, and unenrolled commercial tax return preparation companies. The audit review results were instrumental in the IRS establishing the Taxpayer Assistance Blueprint and Paid Preparer Strategy. Both initiatives transformed how the IRS delivered customer service to taxpayers and oversight of the tax preparation profession.

Later in his career, Frank was able to combine his love of auditing with his gift of motivating and inspiring his peers. He inherited this gift from his parents who were both educators. Frank served as one of the primary adjunct auditing instructors for TIGTA and the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) for 16 years prior to his retirement from TIGTA in December 2025.

Awarded annually for his exceptional job performances, Frank received IG and CIGIE awards for innovative customer service performance audits, the inaugural Adjunct Instructor Training Award of Excellence (2016), and the Barry R. Snyder Joint Award of Excellence (2024) for his contribution in redesigning CIGIE’s Introductory Auditor Course.

Always “Speaking Frankly”, he remains committed to the auditing community by serving, not only as an instructor, but also as a coach and mentor to numerous auditors across the country. Frank supports his mentees by helping them to navigate challenges, achieve goals, seek networking opportunities, and foster interpersonal professional connections.

Frank lives in Stone Mountain, GA with his wife Lori. In his free time, he enjoys fantasy football, playing chess online, coaching basketball and telling bad “uncle” jokes to his nieces.

Questions? You can find our FAQ here and our policies here.

To see a breakdown of how many polls and minutes of attendance are required for this webinar, see this page.