Auditing Culture

Critical thinking can be thought of as an art that is woven throughout the key elements of the audit process, including risk assessments, interviewing, testing and analysis, process documentation, and reporting. Effective critical thinking involves collecting and analyzing information, drawing compelling conclusions, and providing recommendations. It is disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence, which makes it ideally suited for application in an audit setting. This course will help internal auditors to gain a deeper understanding of critical thinking and the application of its concepts to internal auditing.

This course will help internal auditors to gain a deeper understanding of how to apply critical thinking during audit engagements.

Regardless of the geographic location, industry, or type of organization or program, opportunities for corruption present significant risks.

According to Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index, 17 of the world’s 20 most populous countries scored 50 or below (out of 100) on perceived levels of public sector corruption, as rated by experts and businesspeople, indicating that a majority of the globe’s residents live in areas in which corruption is prevalent. Indeed two-thirds of the report’s 180 countries and territories scored 50 or below, with an average score of 43.1

Worldwide, corruption puts businesses and governments at risk and affects organizations, private individuals, and public officials.

This self-study course, which is based largely on the IIA Practice Guide: Auditing Anti-corruption Activities, 2^nd Edition will help internal auditors gain a deeper understanding of anti-corruption controls and how to audit anti-corruption activities.

Performing internal audit engagements with proficiency and due professional care is the responsibility of every internal auditor. It requires a great deal of skill to be a successful internal auditor, and knowledge alone is not enough to become proficient. Internal auditing is also learned by doing; in other words, on-the-job experience is crucial.

This course distinguishes between proficiency and due professional care and identifies the four major areas of competency defined within The IIA’s Global Internal Audit Competency Framework. In addition, it helps learners to recognize the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to fulfill the responsibilities of the internal audit activity. Finally, this course differentiates between technical skills and soft skills and explains how individual internal auditors can achieve competency through continuing professional development.

Any successful organization must establish a basic framework through which both long-term and day-to-day decisions will be made. Think about how a university is structured, or the business through which you gained your first part-time job. Reflect on any clubs or athletic teams in which you participated. All had some form of structure that helped them be successful.

In most organizations internal auditing can be a key enabler to that success. Before you can fully understand how an internal audit function can serve such a role, it is important first to understand how organizations are structured and operate to achieve success. Although the actual organizational structure will vary from one organization to the next, each must establish an overall governance structure to ensure key stakeholder needs are met.