Impactful Audit Findings (8 hours)

Objectives

After this course attendees should have an understanding of:

• The elements of an audit finding
• Methods to identify/develop the elements of an audit finding, including methods to dig into the cause and quantify the effect for a finding
• How to translate audit findings into audit messages for the report

Short Description

In this course attendees will learn how to translate their audit results into audit findings and ensure they capture all of the information needed for an impactful audit report. Using real-world government audit examples, this course will cover how to develop all the elements of a finding and organize them to maximize audit impact.  

Course Outline

            Overview

What the Standards say about audit findings

What are audit findings?  

Why do we use audit findings?

Elements of an audit finding

Definitions: criteria, condition, cause, effect

Exercise 1: Identify the elements of a findings        

Methodologies to develop elements of an audit finding

Sidebar: Overview of data collection methods

        Identifying criteria

Determining condition

Identifying cause

Establishing effect

            Exercise 2: Review fieldwork results and develop findings

Turning findings into audit messages

Exercise 3: Develop a summary of audit messages using the findings

Wrap up