• Understand the fundamentals of operational auditing & how to evaluate operational performance
• Appreciate  the benefits of risk based auditing and associated tools and techniques and practice using them with practical exercises
• Explore  why communication sometimes seems difficult and ways to improve how you communicate with your clients
•  Be up to date with current best practice audit techniques and gain confidence in undertaking risk based audits of core business activities

The role of the internal auditor has been changing dramatically over the last few years. With the introduction of consulting as a basic internal audit role, one might have anticipated that there would be a move away from basic compliance activities to embrace more value adding consultancy assignments, but then along came a series of high profile scandals and Sarbanes Oxley legislation and more recently the banking crisis. Financial controls compliance became an area of focus once again for internal audit as standards were raised for both external auditors and internal auditors. Alongside these changes many companies were introducing enterprise risk management systems and the profession has been introducing risk based internal auditing all significantly adding to the challenges that internal auditors now have to manage in carrying out their responsibilities.

This five day audit school provides practical and valuable guidance on operational auditing of core business processes, the internal auditors’ role with regard to compliance activities, enterprise risk management and risk based internal auditing and reviews the guidance from the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (ISPPIA). It teaches participants how to identify and prioritise risks and assess the efficiency, effectiveness & economics of core business processes, providing practical exercises to help delegates gain confidence in the techniques presented and in their own ability to use them. Delegates will also have the opportunity to identify their clients or
stakeholders and to assess their needs and expectations as well as understanding the tools & techniques that can help them to ensure that their communications are effective and to practice using them in a safe environment. These softer skills can be of particular value in managing the more challenging and also sometimes sensitive situations.

Course Director Lin Bartlett

During her 27 year career with Shell, Lin held a number of senior management roles in IT, Finance and Audit. As Shell UK’s Integrated Audit manager, she developed and gained board approval for a riskbased integrated audit planning and management process, establishing integrated audit plans and assurance maps for all key business areas. She is a trained auditor in financial, IT, health, safety, environment and quality management and planned and managed major audits in many different parts of Shell's business including upstream, downstream, gas and chemicals.