Writing
effective audit reports must be the most important aspect
of the Internal Audit process. It is the main deliverable
and the only written information audit customers receive
Attend
this 2-day workshop and learn how to:-
- Enhance
the impact of your reports
- Improve
their clarity and brevity
- Increase
the percentage of recommendations implemented
- Reduce
the lead time for their issue
- Appreciate
the do's and don'ts of effective reports
- Understand
the words and phrases to avoid
- Develop
an approach for the future, which is innovative, creative
and
constructive.
Course
Outline
Day
1
Audit
Reports - your shop window
- What
is a best practice report?
- Who
do you need to convince?
- The
challenges of audit reporting
- Grabbing
attention
- Getting
the message across
- Getting
action
- The
need for impact
- Which
of 5 reports shown would you be likely to read
- 5
ideas on creating impact
- How
do you know a good report when you see one?
- What
Management expect - recent survey of chief executive
- IIA
professional standards
- Who
are the reports really for?
Exercise
1 : What are the factors that distinguish
an
excellent report from the rest?
The
problems with audit reports
Exercise 2 :
35 questions about your Internal Audit reports
issued during the last 12 months
- The
35 questions (all based on best practice) - how did
you score?
- What
are the factors preventing the achievement of these
best practice measures
- 35
Tips, techniques and ideas to help you score a maximum
- Discussion
of the implications
- How
to assess the needs of the audit customers
Analysis
of actual reports
Exercise 3 : Analysis of 2 real reports
Assessment
and evaluation of your own reports - Exercise 4
- Self
evaluation against the model provided (delegates
are asked to bring along 2 recent reports - purely for
their own reference)
- Discussion
of key issues and identification of opportunities for
improvement
- Key
challenges and their implications
The
Executive Summary
Exercise
5 : Comparison of 3 actual executive summaries
- 15
ways to improve the Executive summary
- The
Executive Summary - the benefits of writing the Executive
summary before
the main report.
- Messages
rather than content
- Outcomes
rather than output
- Solutions
not problems
Exercise
6 : Role play a meeting with senior
management
to discuss the report
Day
2
Best
practice internal audit reports - the way forward
- The
psychological problem with reports
- Why
audit reports are taken as a criticism of management
Exercise
7 Re-writing the Executive summary of one of your own
reports
- 15
ways to focus on success
- Key
requirements of the audit report of the future
- How
to draft a report with impact - discussion of banner
headlines and their relative impact
- Highlighting
the issues that matter
- How
to get recipients to react positively
- 20
ideas on format and language
- 10
ways of improving the review process
- The
use of sentences, paragraphs and bullet points
The
main report
- Audit
Objectives
- Scope
- Forming
and expressing the audit opinion
- Benefits
and deliverables
- Conclusions
- The
power of Senior management comments
- Circulation
lists
- 30
Words and phrases to avoid
- How
to avoid repeating any sections in the Executive Summary
- How
to reduce the number of words
- The
power of pictures and graphics
- The
need to relate the issues to objectives and risk
- How
to deal with sensitive issues in the report.
Exercise
8 : Redrafting the objectives, scope, opinion and conclusions
in the main body of the report
- Recommendations
and actions plans
- Management
Comments
- How
to reflect the right issues for the Audit Committee
- 5
ways to improve the follow-up process
- 5
ways to present results
- A
Best practice report template will be shared
- Examples
of excellent reports will be provided
- The
need to be on your customers side
- Reporting
KPI's
- Tracking
actions
- Use
of the Intranet
Exercise
9 : Delegates action plans
©Business
Risk Management Ltd 2008
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