Internal Audit: a Guide for Management

Name: Internal Audit: a Guide for Management
Rating: 4.4 (2981 reviews)

Prepare for audits, read findings and fix them for good, under the Global Internal Audit Standards, with practical tools

Created byVladimirs Karols

Last updated 10/2026

English

Arabic [Auto],English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Explain what internal audit does and does not do, and how it differs from external audit and the second line
Understand the Global Internal Audit Standards and Topical Requirements, and what they mean for the people being audited
Know how audit is set up, sourced and planned, and how to influence the risk-based audit plan
Prepare for an audit, provide good evidence and understand the procedures auditors use
Read a finding and its rating in two minutes, and challenge facts with evidence
Write management responses that fix root causes, manage follow-up, and use audit for advice and combined assurance

Course content

8 sections • 25 lectures • 1h 17m total length

0.1 Welcome: why internal audit matters to managers4:02
Who the course is for, what changed with the Global Internal Audit Standards, and how the lectures, tools, quizzes and course manual work.
0.2 The people of Halbury1:38
Meet the people of Halbury Payments, the fictional firm where the course story takes place.

1.1 What internal audit does, and what it does not3:42
What internal audit is for under the Global Internal Audit Standards, the difference between assurance and advice, and what audit is not.
1.2 Internal and external audit3:27
Who internal and external audit serve, what each looks at and how often, and why managers need both.
Quiz 1 · What internal audit is
1.3 The Three Lines Model3:33
The Three Lines Model in plain words: who owns risk, who challenges, who gives independent assurance, and how the board oversees them.
Quiz 2 · The Three Lines Model

2.1 The Global Internal Audit Standards in plain words3:38
Why the old standards were replaced, the five domains and fifteen principles, and what they mean for the people being audited.
2.2 Independence and objectivity3:25
Reporting lines, impairments, auditing your own work and conflicts of interest, and why an auditor may refuse a request.
Quiz 3 · Standards and independence
2.3 Topical Requirements: cyber, third parties, culture3:37
The mandatory Topical Requirements on cybersecurity, third-party risk and organisational behaviour, and what they mean for managers.
2.4 Internal audit and the audit committee3:28
What the audit committee expects from internal audit, private sessions, the annual opinion and the board's role.
Quiz 4 · Topical Requirements and the committee

3.1 The charter, mandate and resources3:20
The mandate and charter, access to people and records, the Head of Internal Audit's role, and quality assessment.
3.2 In-house, co-sourced or outsourced3:05
In-house, co-sourced or outsourced internal audit: pros and cons, specialist skills, cost and keeping accountability in-house.
Quiz 5 · Setting up the function
3.3 The risk-based audit plan2:59
How internal audit chooses what to audit, the audit universe, frequency, and how managers can influence the plan.
Quiz 6 · The risk-based audit plan

4.1 Notification, scoping and the opening meeting3:06
The audit notification, objectives and scope, the opening meeting, and what to ask before fieldwork starts.
4.2 Fieldwork: evidence, walk-throughs and samples3:24
Evidence requests, walk-throughs, testing design and operation, sampling, and what good evidence looks like.
Quiz 7 · Notification and fieldwork
4.3 Audit procedures: what auditors actually do3:17
The procedures auditors use, from inquiry and inspection to confirmation, re-performance and analytics, sample sizes, and what each one means for you.
4.4 The closing meeting: no surprises3:12
Discussing issues as they arise, the closing meeting, facts versus opinions, and how to challenge well.
4.5 Working well with auditors2:37
Behaviours that help and hurt during an audit, from delays and over-sharing to arguing the rating instead of the risk.
Quiz 8 · Procedures, closing meeting and working well

5.1 Anatomy of a finding3:00
Criteria, condition, cause, consequence and recommendation: how to read a finding in two minutes.
5.2 Ratings and opinions2:56
How findings and reports are rated, engagement and annual opinions, and why a rating is a risk judgement.
Quiz 9 · Findings and ratings
5.3 Management responses and action plans3:06
Agree, partly agree or disagree; actions that fix the root cause, with owners and realistic dates; accepting a risk on the record.
5.4 Follow-up and overdue actions3:07
How audit follows up, the evidence needed for closure, extensions, and escalation to the committee.
Quiz 10 · Responses and follow-up

6.1 Advice before the problem3:16
Advisory engagements, involving audit early in change, and how audit keeps its independence while advising.
Quiz 11 · Advice before the problem
6.2 Data, AI and continuous auditing2:53
Data analytics, continuous monitoring, and the uses and limits of AI in internal audit.
6.3 Combined assurance and your 90-day plan2:58
Combined assurance and the assurance map, your first 90 days with internal audit, and where to learn more.
Quiz 12 · Data, AI and combined assurance

Requirements

None. Basic familiarity with how your own firm works helps
No software needed beyond Word and Excel for the tools

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Most managers meet internal audit only when the notification lands, and then again when the findings arrive. That is too late to get much value from it. Since January 2025, internal audit has worked to new Global Internal Audit Standards, with new Topical Requirements on cybersecurity, third parties and organisational behaviour. Managers need to know what has changed and what is now expected of them.

This course shows managers in banks, payment and e-money firms, investment and crypto-asset firms how internal audit works and how to work with it, in short, practical lectures. You will see what internal audit is for and how the Standards protect its independence, how the function is set up and how it chooses what to audit, and what happens in an audit from your side, from the opening meeting to the procedures auditors use and the closing meeting. You will also learn to read a finding and its rating, write a response that fixes the cause, and use audit for advice before problems happen.

You will follow Halbury Payments through audit season: the Head of Internal Audit rebuilds the function with the chair of the audit committee, and his team audits complaints and refunds, finds a manual workaround and follows the actions to closure. Most lectures open with a real case from public sources, such as Wirecard, Carillion, Danske Bank, TSB and Toshiba.

What you get

24 short video lectures (about 77 minutes) and 12 quick quizzes
11 practical tools: a glossary, a Three Lines roles sheet, audit committee questions, a charter checklist, a sourcing decision matrix, an audit readiness checklist, an evidence request tracker, a finding rating guide, a management response template, an audit action tracker, and questions for your Head of Internal Audit with a 90-day plan
A 68-page course manual with every case, framework and quiz answer

Built by a Certified Internal Auditor with years of experience in internal audit and compliance in regulated financial firms. No prior audit knowledge needed. Some of the lectures are presented by an AI avatar of the instructor, made from his own image and voice, and the people of the fictional firm Halbury are AI-generated. The content, the cases and the judgement are the instructor’s own.

Who this course is for:

Managers and heads of business, operations, finance and IT in banks, payment, e-money, investment and crypto-asset firms who are audited
Compliance, risk and quality managers who work alongside internal audit
Board and audit committee members, and managers preparing to join one
Professionals considering a move into internal audit

Internal Audit: a Guide for Management

What you'll learn

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Course content

Module 0 · Welcome2 lectures • 6min

Module 1 · What internal audit is3 lectures • 11min

Module 2 · Standards and independence4 lectures • 14min

Module 3 · Setting up the function3 lectures • 9min

Module 4 · An audit from your side5 lectures • 16min

Module 5 · Reports, ratings and actions4 lectures • 12min

Module 6 · Getting value from internal audit3 lectures • 9min

Where to go next1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: