Internal controls are activities or procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance that operations are “going according to plan.” Without adequate internal controls, management has little assurance that its goals and objectives will be achieved. Properly designed and functioning controls reduce the likelihood that significant errors or fraud will occur and remain undetected. The course will equip management professionals of non-profit agencies with knowledge and skills to interpret various fraudulent activities and identify appropriate control mechanisms to implement. Learners will also learn about detective and preventive internal controls.

Audit comprises a fundamental component of the recurrent and strategic activities of nearly all professional occupations. While a small group of jobs focus exclusively on internal and external audit tasks, the majority of commerce graduates will utilise the principles and practices of risk assessment, internal control, systems evaluation and forensic accountability in their professional lives. This course thus aims to provide an introduction to the principles and practices of auditing. In this context, it will also outline and critically examine contemporary audit issues and challenges

- Risk Managers

- Internal Auditors

- Accountants

- Backoffice Employees

- Controllers

- Managers

- Compliance

- Regulators

1) Articulate knowledge of fundamental audit concepts.

2) Apply critical thinking skills and solve auditing problems through the use of case studies.

3) Demonstrate the use of the Auditing, Assurance and Ethics Handbook.

4) Explain the legal framework under which Australian company audits are conducted and apply the professions code of conduct.

5) Demonstrate the ability to undertake research on significant auditing issues and to keep up-to-date with developments in auditing theory and practice.

6) Outline the role of auditing in society.

7) Interpret fraud activities at workplaces using fraud triangle

8)  Apply steps for developing integrated internal control systems to promote organisational efficiency

9) Implement effective internal controls at the workplace

1. The role of internal controls and risk management in

supporting your organisation’s objectives

» Integrating internal control as part of risk management and

governance

» Definitions and their importance

» Conflict between risk management and internal control

» Cast study: large losses – risks without controls

2. Re-assessing roles and responsibilities

» Establishing and confirming who is responsible for what

» Assessing the consequences and impacts of dysfunctional

integration and conflict — on profit and performance

» Reflect on the typical impediments to integration

» The differences between audit and risk committees

» Risk officers and risk departments – what do/should they do?

» Linking objectives

» Case study: senior management’s role within conflict

3. Supporting an organisation’s culture

» Why the tone at the top matters

» Management’s lead in internal controls

» Values of the organisation

» The importance of aligning objectives to culture to risks

4. Goals, risk and governance: linking GRC to individual

performance

» How should risk managers be paid?

» Linking risks and profits to performance and performance

management systems

» Bonus versus risk versus professional competencies. Why too

much risk can result in less competence

» Accountabilities: ensuring those in charge are accountable for

being in control

5. Ensuring sufficient competency and skill

» Understanding the objectives to ensure the right skills are

developed

» Having sufficient resources

» Risk models versus real-life experience and knowledge:

assessing the reality when the model says you’re OK, but

experience says you’re not

6. Responding to risk

» Ensuring your controls match the risk involved: mix and cost

effectiveness of controls

» Establishing the need for continuous change

» Understanding and promoting risk interaction

» Risk treatment strategies

» Assessing risk acceptance

» Establishing risk targets: risk identification and model issues

7. Communicating regularly

» Clear, understood and documented controls

» Embedding GRC communication into the way people work

» Communication in a crisis — who does it? What tone? Case

study

» Internal communication between departments and differing views

of risk

8. Monitoring and evaluating controls

» How should the internal control system be monitored?

» Providing feedback to the governing body

» Causes of failure of internal controls — why those that have

historically worked can suddenly fail, and the underlying causes

of failure

» Actions from evaluations — do you want/need to change?

» Dealing with conflicts of interest — senior management actions

and decision-making

» Who is responsible for monitoring controls?

» Accurately matching monitoring frequency to volatility

» Accountability of controls to targets — setting risk targets versus

profits

9. Providing for transparency and accountability

10. Future risks

The following aspects will be covered for each business process:

• Planning, risks assessment and controls mapping

• Applying the COSO framework in assessing adequacy of controls

• Identifying what are the risks associated with each process and the risk mitigation activities and controls

• Appreciation of integrated audits that considers both manual and automated controls.

• Assessing the effectiveness of controls and design of audit programmes

• Common control weaknesses and recommended best practices

• Identify and share 10 important knowledge, skills, and abilities each auditor needs for success

• Discuss and provide examples of independence and objectivity issues and the impact to audits

• Understand why auditors must demonstrate high ethical conduct and professionalism to be effective

• Review and learn the required standards and strongly recommended guidance

• Provide risk management framework examples for application/use in identifying organizational risks

• Identify and discuss key certifications held by auditors and how achieving these increase auditor credibility, knowledge and opportunities for promotion

• Understand/learn the importance of continuous learning and how your career can be impacted in a positive manner

• Discuss how business acumen facilitates auditor effectiveness and methods to develop your business/industry knowledge

• Review the importance of competent, sufficient, relevant, useful and persuasive audit evidence

• Learn working paper leading practices to promote audit efficiency/effectiveness

• Discuss the meaning and application of professional judgment

• Identify the types of evidence and discuss methods, techniques and tools to gather information to support audit objectives/results

• Provide an overview of how to use critical thinking in audits including root cause analysis

• Identify and share auditor tools and techniques

• Learn how to perform and practice interviews including the resulting audit follow-up work

• Understand the audit planning steps and their importance to an audit's success

• Review the fieldwork steps and focus on the importance of test work

• Summarize the audit results and communicate effectively with management

• Review the process to develop audit objectives and audit programs that identify the primary risk areas based on the allocation of limited audit hours

• Practice key elements of the audit process

• Understand what risk-based auditing entails and what steps need to be followed to perform a risk-based audit

• Share and analyze productivity approaches and decide which ones work best for you

• Provide a high-level overview of audit's role in governance, risk management, control processes, fraud prevention/detection, IT audit and consulting

• Identify audit's primary stakeholders and the importance of determining you meet their needs/expectations

• Learn to build relationships with audit customers and the positive impact it can have on internal audit and potentially your career

• Understand the risk between annual risk assessment and engagement planning