FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERNAL AUDITING

• Foundations of Internal Auditing
  • The IIA’s Mission of Internal Audit
  • Definition of Internal Auditing
  • The purpose, authority, and responsibility of the internal audit activity
  • Requirements of an internal audit charter
  • Components
  • Board approval
  • Communication of the charter
  • Difference between assurance and consulting services
  • Conformance with the IIA Code of Ethics
• Independence and Objectivity
  • ​​Interpret organizational independence of the internal audit activity
  • Importance of independence, functional reporting, etc.
  • ​Identify whether the internal audit activity has any impairments to its independence
  • ​Assess and maintain an individual internal auditor’s objectivity
  • ​Analyse policies that promote objectivity
• Proficiency and Due Professional Care
  • ​​Knowledge, skills, and competencies required
  • ​​Demonstrate the competencies to perform audit responsibilities
  • Technical skills
  • Soft skills
  • ​Demonstrate due to professional care
  • Continuous professional development
• Quality Assurance and Improvement Program
  • Elements of the quality assurance and improvement program
  • Internal assessments
  • External assessments
  • Reporting the results of the quality assurance and improvement program
  • ​​Identify appropriate disclosure of conformance vs. nonconformance
  • The IIA’s International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing
• Governance, Risk Management, and Control
  • The concept of organisational governance
  • ​The impact of organizational culture on the overall control environment
  • Interpret the organization’s ethics and compliance-related issues
  • Alleged violations
  • Dispositions
  • ​​Describe corporate social responsibility ​​
  • ​​Interpret fundamental concepts of risk and the risk management process
  • ​​Describe globally accepted risk management frameworks appropriate to the organization (COSO – ERM, ISO 31000, etc.) ​
  • ​Examine the effectiveness of risk management within processes and functions ​
  • ​​Recognize the appropriateness of the internal audit activity’s role in the organization’s risk management process ​
  • ​Interpret internal control concepts and types of controls ​
  • ​​Apply globally accepted internal control frameworks appropriate to the organization (COSO, etc.) ​
  • ​​Examine the effectiveness and efficiency of internal controls
• Fraud Risks
  • Interpret fraud risks and types of frauds and determine whether fraud risks require special consideration when conducting an engagement
  • ​​Evaluate the potential for the occurrence of fraud (red flags, etc.) and how the organization detects and manages fraud risks
  • ​​Recommend controls to prevent and detect fraud and education to improve the organization’s fraud awareness ​
  • ​Recognize techniques and internal audit roles related to forensic auditing

• Managing the Internal Audit Activity
  • Internal Audit Operations
  • Establishing a Risk-based Internal Audit Plan
  • ​Communicating and Reporting to Senior Management and the Board
• Planning the Engagement
  • Engagement Planning
• Performing the Engagement
  • Information Gathering
  • Analysis and Evaluation
  • ​Engagement Supervision
• Communicating Engagement Results and Monitoring Progress
  • Communicating Engagement Results and the Acceptance of Risk
  • Monitoring Progress

Business Acumen

• Organizational Objectives, Behaviour, and Performance
• Organizational Structure and Business Processes
• ​Data Analytics
• Information Security
  • Physical security controls
  • User authentication and authorization controls
  • Encryption, firewalls, antivirus, etc
  • Data privacy laws and their potential impact on data security policies and practices
  • Emerging technology practices
  • Bring Your Device [BYOD], smart devices, Internet of Things [IoT], etc.
• Information Technology
  • Application and System Software
  • IT Infrastructure and IT Control Framework
  • ​Disaster Recovery

• Financial Management
  • Financial Accounting and Finance
  • Managerial Accounting