Mastering Communication and Report Writing for Internal Auditors

The programme

Programme overview

This course is designed to enhance the communication and report writing skills of internal auditors, ensuring they can effectively convey their findings and recommendations to stakeholders. By developing strong communication abilities, internal auditors can maximise their impact, drive improvements, and facilitate necessary changes within their organisations. Throughout the course, participants will engage in interactive activities and practical exercises to apply the concepts learned.

Internal auditors often encounter challenging communication scenarios during the audit process, from initial planning to presenting findings and recommendations. Effective communication is crucial to provide assurance to the board and senior management, ensuring that the audit process results in meaningful improvements.

Who should attend

Who is this programme for?

• Internal Auditors
• Audit Managers
• Compliance Officers
• Risk Managers
• Finance and Accounting Professionals

Learning outcomes

What you will learn

• Build a clear picture of your own communication strengths and gaps, across verbal, non-verbal, and listening skills
• Structure and deliver key messages so they land with different stakeholder audiences
• Use negotiation and influencing techniques to drive genuine organisational improvement, not just report on it
• Write audit reports that meet the five 'Cs' standard: Condition, Criteria, Cause, Consequence, and Corrective action
• Apply data visualisation and AI-assisted drafting tools to make reports clearer and faster to produce
• Follow up on recommendations effectively, using escalation procedures that get real management action

Explore the programme

Detailed programme outline

2-Day Essentials — Training Outline

• Why communication matters for internal auditors, and the professional standards behind it
• Comprehensive, critical, and relationship listening; reading body language
• Effective stakeholder engagement and managing expectations
• Interview structure and question types: open, probing, closed, clarifying
• Negotiation essentials and working toward win-win outcomes
• Reporting to gain agreement and change behaviour
• Types of audit reports: engagement, interim, summary assurance, memorandum
• The five 'Cs': Condition, Criteria, Cause, Consequence, Corrective action
• Achieving clarity: paragraphs, sentence construction, and editing
• Data visualisation and using AI-assisted drafting tools to speed up your first draft
• Review and agreement process, and following up on recommendations
• Deciding whether the 5-Day Comprehensive programme is the right next step

5-Day Comprehensive — Training Outline

• The importance of effective communication skills, and professional standards
• Challenges for internal auditors, and the fundamentals and benefits of effective communication
• Communication channels and methods for internal auditors, and planning to communicate effectively
• The theory of communication: encoding, decoding, perception, feedback
• Communication styles, knowing your audience, and the golden rules of effective communication
• Comprehensive, critical, and relationship listening; listening styles and qualities of good listeners
• Avoiding poor listening habits; the importance of body language and body language zones
• Key factors in successful business relationships, and effective stakeholder engagement
• Understanding and managing stakeholder expectations; collaboration and cooperation
• Dealing with difficult people, assertiveness, and conflict management
• Types of meetings and interviews; interview structure from preparation through closing
• Question types: open, probing, closed, clarifying, confirming; levels of questioning
• Strategies for challenging situations and overcoming common interview challenges
• Characteristics of effective negotiators; negotiation tone and structure
• Conducting and closing negotiations; win-win outcomes and other results
• Communicating the engagement plan and during the engagement
• Tone and presentation of findings; structuring presentations
• Leadership and management; leading remote teams
• Seven attributes of effective internal audit leaders; team motivation and coaching
• Reasons and importance of reporting; adding value and changing behaviour through effective reports
• Common challenges and mistakes in audit reporting; best practice reporting process
• Engagement reports, real-time (interim) reports, summary assurance reports, and audit memoranda
• Outline and structure; first draft, editing, review, and approval; delivery and distribution roles
• The seven dimensions of quality reporting
• The five 'Cs' approach: Condition, Criteria, Cause, Consequence, Corrective action
• Dealing with favourable and deficiency findings; report tone and timing
• Achieving clarity; constructing professional paragraphs and sentences
• Punctuation for clarity and pace; the importance and practice of effective editing
• Using AI-assisted drafting tools to accelerate your first draft, then editing for accuracy and tone
• Executive summary, background, objectives and scope, audit opinion, findings and conclusions
• Ranking findings; recommendations (wording, priority, action plan); appendices and target audience
• Improving report appearance and data visualisation techniques
• The impact of colour and imagery; creating and embedding effective charts and data graphics
• Meeting IIA standards for communicating results; review methods and quality checks
• The agreement process: information, negotiation, pre-distribution check, distribution
• Effective follow-up systems and monitoring management action
• Escalation procedures and reporting to the Audit Committee
• Engaging your target audience and gaining formal and informal feedback
• Final assessment of skills and knowledge covered across the programme

Learning approach

How you will learn

Our diverse instructional approaches ensure effective learning:

– Lectures & Presentations: Engage with expert-driven, stimulating content.– Course Material: Access well-crafted supporting resources.– Group Work: Collaborate on discussions and case studies for practical insights.– Workshops & Role-Play: Participate in immersive, scenario-based activities.– Practical Application: Focus on applying theoretical knowledge in real situations.– Post-Training Support: Receive extensive support after training for skill implementation.

Discuss your requirements

Dates, duration & arrangements

Contact Ratomac to confirm dates, duration, delivery format, entry requirements and any applicable assessment or certification before booking.