High Impact Internal Audit Leadership

Why Attend

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.

Course 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.

Course 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

Target Audience

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

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

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

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

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

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