Project Management and Audit
- Defining project management and the project management process
- Major processes in the life of a project
- Major processes in an internal audit
- Project management’s relevance to internal audit
- Expanding audit project leaders’ core competencies
Cornerstones of Project Management
- What is a project?
- The project triangle
- Key project management definitions
- 9 knowledge areas of project management
- Elements of a project plan
- Mapping, scheduling, and controlling the project
- Allocating resources
- Identifying problems early in the process
Applying Project Management Strategies to IA
- Why project management?
- Successful audit/project management: key factors
- The audit/project planning process
- Using project management to plan audits
- Time estimates
- Common workflow planning problems
- Managing resources
- Guidelines and examples of good audit/project management
- Improving time management
Applying Project Management to the Audit Process
- The benefits of adopting a project management focus
- The relationship of planning to control
- Maximizing your investment in planning
- Developing a work breakdown structure
- Developing early warning systems
- Minimizing your investment in fieldwork
- Writing and issuing meaningful reports promptly
Practice Case
- Defining project scope and requirements
- Developing the project work plan
- Defining activity dependencies and creating network diagrams
- Estimating work
- Producing a project plan
- Monitoring and controlling projects
- Closing the project
The Successful Project Manager
- Project manager attributes
- Roles and responsibilities
- Focus areas: communication, motivation, and problem-solving
- 7 ways to succeed
- 7 ways to fail
- Directing and managing others
- Conducting meetings and interviews
- Rational and creative problem-solving techniques
Meeting Today’s Audit Challenges with Project Management Techniques
- How the project manager’s role differs in compliance and operational reviews
- Multi-tasking: an essential competency for managing operational audits
- How to avoid bottlenecks
- How to differentiate workflows for assurance and consulting reviews
- How to manage your project when you don’t know the final product at the onset
- Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
- Enterprise-wide risk assessment
- Special projects