Training insights – what will you learn this year?

January is the time to make new year’s resolutions and to look back at the past year – and ahead to the new one. Many people take the time to consider their own careers and the skills they think they will need to progress to the next step. Chief audit executives (CAEs) may also be doing the same for their teams.

Given the challenges in the global geopolitical and economic environment, internal auditors need all the skills at their disposal to keep on top of both current and emerging risks, provide meaningful assurance to the board and audit committee and embark on new forms of audit work and advisory support. So it’s never been a better time to think about the skills you currently lack, or areas where you may need some inspiration.

The Chartered IIA offers a wide range of courses. At one end, there is training that covers the basics for those new to the profession or those working in allied roles in, for example, the second line, who need to understand key internal audit processes. These can provide the fundamental skills and understanding that help to get new trainees started, or enable teams elsewhere in the business to work better with their internal audit colleagues. CAEs could benefit by suggesting that other managers consider sending their staff on these.

At the other extreme, there are courses for those who already have internal audit qualifications and experience, but who are embarking on audit work in unfamiliar areas – such as geopolitical risk, people risk, sustainability or culture – and would like some ideas and background knowledge before they start.

The Chartered IIA’s courses also offer flexibility to suit different needs. Smaller teams or individuals can book on scheduled live virtual courses, where they will join people from other organisations. They may make new contacts and are likely to find out more about the way other organisations structure their teams and run their audits. This makes the discussions wide-ranging and varied. No two sessions, even on the same subject, will be the same.

For those seeking guidance on specific topics in bitesized chunks and at their own pace, there are also online training courses. These cover a huge range of subjects, from ethics and ethical dilemmas to interpreting financial reports, recognising unconscious bias, quality in internal audit and fraud risk. The material remains accessible for 90 days from purchase, so you can access it when it suits you best and you gain continuing professional education (CPE) points when you complete it.

CAEs wanting to educate a whole team in a particular topic or get conversations flowing about issues specific to their own organisation may prefer to opt for in-house training. This type of course can help to bond existing teams, and tutors will work with the manager in advance to ensure that the course is tailored to suit their needs and to explore the real challenges they are facing so they come away with practical support that is directly applicable in their organisation.

All live courses are taught by skilled and experienced trainers, who encourage debate and interaction and participants often come away with new contacts (the trainer or fellow attendees) who can offer useful insights and support when they come to put their learning into practice.

Case study: in-house training at Cordaid International

When Frans Van Midde joined emergency relief organisation Cordaid International, he was the only internal auditor and had a limited budget. So, rather than hiring a single trainee, he came up with the idea of creating a pool of internal auditors who work full-time in other parts of the organisation, but are given time to undertake internal audit training and to participate in specific audit projects around the world when necessary.

“I asked colleagues if they would like to join internal audit as part of this pool and I was flooded with applicants,” Van Midde recalls. “I chose seven and I saw this as a win-win situation. They would get a comprehensive view of the whole organisation and learn new skills, while I got a team of internal auditors who already had specialist knowledge of specific areas and would carry their knowledge of good internal auditing back to their functions.”

His first task was to ensure that his new pool understood basic internal auditing techniques and skills, so he booked them all on the Chartered IIA’s Introduction to Professional Internal Auditing course. He chose in-house training because of the numbers and because the team needed to get to know each other.

He also had specific requirements that he discussed in advance with the trainer.

The following year, he followed this up with a further in-house course on The Basics That Matter and last year they completed “Auditing Projects, Project Management and Project Risk”.

“The people in the pool are across the globe, so they got to know each other and became a real team during the training,” Van Midde explains. “They found the first course quite hard, because they had to learn a new way of thinking and understand the organisation beyond their own department. However, this course inspired them and made them want to know more.”

Another area they found challenging was interviewing skills. Many initially expected their role to be more confrontational, and discussions with trainers helped them to recognise the value of working constructively with auditees and to try out different approaches. Van Midde attends all the training sessions with the team and then reviews what they have learned afterwards with them, before finding ways for them to put their learning into practice on a real engagement.

“I’ve found that the courses help to make people interested and want to learn more. They then take what they’ve learned back into their own departments, which makes the relationship richer,” Van Midde explains. “We do one group training session each year and they’ve started discussing things more and asking more questions as they’ve developed understanding and got to know each other.”

He found the pre-course preparation particularly valuable, because he was able to provide real documents so the team could learn using the forms and documentation they would use in practice. The training also sparks interesting discussions that they continue afterwards in the office.

“The most important part for me is the interaction between the trainer and trainees,” Van Midde adds. “The discussions are essential – you need knowledge, but it has to come alive.”

This article was published in January 2024.