Internal Audit For Beginners - Part 2

Develop a company-wide audit plan by building the audit universe, performing risk assessments, prioritizing risks, and aligning with senior management and the board, then obtaining audit committee approval.

Explore engagement planning in the six-step audit cycle by gathering risk assessment inputs, using departmental documents, and producing the engagement memo and risk and control matrix.

Begin the audit with a kickoff that presents the objective, scope, and a 2 to 4 week timeline from the plan, and assigns a single coordinator to manage requests.

Explore audit execution, the fourth phase of the six step audit cycle, focusing on process understanding, documentation, the risk and control matrix, evidence gathering, and the internal audit report.

Close out the audit by holding an exit meeting, obtaining management comments and an action plan, then discuss observations with senior management or the board and update the audit universe.

Explore follow up audits, the final phase of the audit cycle. Learn to track observations by timeline, gather evidence, and assess implementation status (implemented, partially implemented, not implemented, not due).

Explore the complete audit cycle from planning to follow-up in part two, emphasizing execution, closeout, and resolving disagreements, with practical real life examples for junior and senior roles.