Auditing Projects (Project Governance and Assurance) - Online Classroom

Are you looking to improve your knowledge and skills to effectively audit and provide assurance on projects?

Almost every organisation will have programs and projects rating high on their risk register, appearing in their audit universe, and therefore, subject to the audit process. But how do we know what to audit, when to audit or who can assist us with our project audit?

Join this training course to understand the differences between portfolios, programs, and projects, and learn about project assurance and its importance. Explore the role of internal audit in project assurance, apply the appropriate internal audit approach based on project management methodologies, and discover forward-looking project audit techniques, including data analytics and digitisation.

Learning Outcomes:

The following learning outcomes will be covered during the "Auditing Project" training, with the main focus being on auditing and providing assurance on projects.

• The difference between a Portfolio, a Program, and a Project
• An understanding of what Project Assurance is
• Be comfortable with the role of Internal Audit in project assurance
• Apply the internal audit approach to projects
• Forward-looking project audit and assurance

Topics Covered:

1. The difference between a Portfolio, a Program, and a Project

• Project management methodologies (Differences between waterfall, agile and hybrid that are important to internal audit)
• Project Management Plan / Project Execution Plan with subsidiary management plans which sets the project governance, risk, compliance and assurance requirements/controls
• The Project Management Office and where it features

2. An understanding of what Project Assurance is

• Using the 3-lines model
• Project Assurance Plan (integrated assurance)
• Understanding where and how various assurance reviews could feature during the project management cycle, and afterwards (operations and benefits realisation)

3. Be comfortable with the role of Internal Audit in project assurance

• Understand how project management, project assurance and internal audit align with projects
• Assurance vs. consulting engagement when it comes to projects

4. Apply the internal audit approach to projects

• Unpacking the standards in terms of project audits
• Identify the appropriate internal audit approach based on the project management methodology
• The difference in the internal audit approach depending on the project management methodology
• Determine the adequacy and test the effectiveness of the project controls in place to mitigate against risk exposure (project control environment assessment)
• Risk management remains at the centre (risk-based auditing)

5. Forward-looking project audit and assurance using Data analytics techniques

CPE Points: 7