Strategic Internal Auditing

This Strategic Internal Auditing course will cover:

The Role and Function of Internal Audit

• Key goals of the internal audit function
• Ensuring auditor objectivity
• Avoidance of conflicts of interest within auditing
• Auditor skillset

Conducting Effective Audits

• Pre-audit planning
• Effective audit sampling techniques
• Recording findings during auditing
• Effective stakeholder engagement

Audit Structures

• The audit committee’s role
• Developing the audit charter
• The external auditor’s role
• Developing and improving best practices

Financial Crime Risks

• Money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions risks
• AML controls
• CTF controls
• Sanctions controls – matches
• Trade-based money laundering risks
• Customer due diligence controls
• Enhanced customer due diligence controls
• Consideration of money laundering risks in practice evidenced by the organisation
• Beneficial Ownership Transparency – individuals and entities
• Testing operational efficiency v. financial crime risk prevention in practice
• Training and awareness programmes

Audit Report Writing

• Ensuring objective comments
• Ensuring use of constructive language
• Financial crime compliance terms and abbreviations for internal auditors
• Improvement recommendations
• Continuous improvement techniques

Risk – Based Auditing

• Identifying areas of risk
• Identifying new areas of risk
• Classification and quantification of risk areas
• Identifying potential interface of existing and new areas of risk
• Developing audit and re – audit frequency in alignment with risk
• Overview of emerging and evolving threats

Conducting Effective Audits

• The auditor’s role as a consultant
• Utilising audit reporting to inform organisational policy development
• Continuous improvement initiatives and supervision
• Measuring improvement – toolkit for objective measurement and demonstration of audit output improvements

Financial Crime Compliance 

• Record keeping procedures
• Controls to identify potentially suspicious activities
• Trade finance transactions
• Trade processing controls by processing staff
• Red flagging procedures
• Pre-determined thresholds systems and controls
• Escalations
• Actions taken by senior management
• Evidence and awareness of senior management evidencing how crime risks evolve in organisational type of business

Engaging with the Audit Structure

• Making effective recommendations and business cases
• Presenting information effectively
• OSCOLA (Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) for internal auditors
• Contributing meaningfully to the development of the long – term audit strategy
• Upgrading the profile of internal audit within the organisation