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SOX for Control Owners: What Testers Ask For, What Each Phase Means and How to Pass Testing
If you own a key control, SOX testing will arrive every year whether or not anyone explains it. This guide is written for the control owner, not the…
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21–31 minutes -
The Audit Opening Meeting: Scripts and Stagecraft for Starting an Engagement Right
How to run an internal audit opening (entrance) meeting: what it is for, the preparation that decides it, a 45-minute agenda, word-for-word scripts for each segment, stagecraft for…
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25–38 minutes -
Control Ownership: Making Someone Actually Accountable
What a control owner is accountable for, how owner, performer, reviewer and monitor differ, how controls become orphans and a simple analytic to find them, an ownership register,…
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18–28 minutes -
Failed an Internal Audit? What an Unsatisfactory Rating Means and What to Do Next
What an Unsatisfactory internal audit rating says, who sees it and what they do with it, the first 72 hours and the first 90 days, talking to your…
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18–27 minutes -
When Internal Audit Interviews You: What They Ask and How to Answer
For managers and the people who do the work: the five kinds of conversation with internal audit, sixteen common questions and what each is really testing, preparing in…
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18–28 minutes -
Living With Internal Audit Year-Round: The Auditee’s Guide to the Off-Season
What to do between audits so the next one is uneventful: what internal audit is doing all year, heads-ups that build credit, asking for advice before you build,…
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19–28 minutes -
The PBC Survival Guide: Handling Audit Requests Without Derailing Your Day Job
For the team being audited: what each kind of request is for, triage in the first 48 hours, the single-coordinator model and a tracker template, data extracts and…
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18–27 minutes -
Writing Management Action Plans That Actually Close: The Auditee’s Craft
How to answer an internal audit finding so the action closes on its first validation: what a management response must contain, settling the finding first, fixing the cause,…
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21–31 minutes -
The Auditee Communication Pack: Notification, Kickoff Deck, and Status Templates
The four documents that run an engagement’s communication with the people being audited, in full and annotated for tone: the notification letter, the eight-slide kickoff deck, the Friday…
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19–29 minutes -
The Psychology of Auditees: Why Audits Feel Threatening and What Auditors Can Do
For internal auditors: why audits trigger threat responses, what research on stress, procedural justice, loss aversion, attribution and psychological safety implies, what to change at each stage of…
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18–28 minutes -
Audit Anxiety: How to Cope With the Fear of Being Audited
A guide for the person being audited: why audits feel personal, what is realistically at stake, what helps at each stage from notification to report, interviews, findings, disclosing…
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18–27 minutes -
When You Disagree With an Internal Audit Finding: How to Dispute It Properly
How to test an internal audit finding and dispute it properly: which parts you can argue and when, the evidence auditors accept, arguing a rating from the definitions,…
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27–40 minutes -
What to Expect During an Internal Audit: The Auditee’s Guide
Written for the people being audited, by an auditor: every phase from notification to follow-up, a 20-item document request list with the reason for each item, how findings…
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31–46 minutes -
How Long Does an Internal Audit Take? Timelines and Drivers
Six to ten weeks for a standard audit, and here is what decides which: the three clocks (elapsed time, audit hours, auditee hours), a phase-by-phase timeline with ranges,…
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19–28 minutes -
When Will Internal Audit Come? How Audit Plans Choose What Gets Audited
How internal audit plans choose what gets audited: the audit universe, risk scoring, cycle policies by band, triggers that bring an audit early, coverage by sector and size,…
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19–28 minutes -
What Internal Audit Can and Cannot Do: Authority, Access and Limits
Where internal audit’s authority comes from, how to read your charter, what unrestricted access covers and its legal limits, what auditors are not allowed to do, what stays…
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19–28 minutes -
How to Prepare for an Internal Audit: A Month-Before Plan in 10 Steps
A four-week plan for managers and process owners preparing for an internal audit: ten steps from understanding the scope to planning the kickoff, preparing for the walkthrough, the…
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18–28 minutes -
Disagreeing With Internal Audit About Scope, Timing, Access or Conduct
The disagreements with internal audit that are not about findings: timing, scope, requests, access, confidentiality, auditor conduct and objectivity. What management can influence, what the charter fixes, how…
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19–28 minutes -
The Most Common Fears About Internal Audits, and What Actually Happens
Sixteen common fears about internal audits, from being blamed and losing your job to auditors hunting for fraud, each set against what actually happens, where the fear has…
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18–27 minutes -
What Not to Say to Your Internal Auditor, and What to Say Instead
A phrasebook for people being audited: what not to say at the kickoff, with requests, in walkthroughs, when exceptions appear, at the closing meeting and in the written…
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18–27 minutes -
Why Welcome an Internal Audit: What Your Area Can Get Out of It
What a manager can get out of an internal audit: independent evidence for a budget case, fixes that get funded, benchmarks, advice before you build, a baseline when…
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18–28 minutes