Mastering Internal Audit Fundamentals A Step-by-Step Approach

By SALIH AHMED ISLAM

Internal audit is a crucial function in any organisation, as it provides an independent and objective assessment of an organisation's internal controls, processes, and systems. Effective internal auditors possess a wide range of skills and knowledge, including risk assessment, internal control frameworks, data analytics, and communication.

"Mastering Internal Audit Fundamentals: A Step by Step Approach" is a comprehensive guide to help aspiring and current internal auditors enhance their skills and knowledge. The book takes a step-by-step approach, starting with the fundamentals and building up to more advanced concepts.

The book is written by Salih Ahmed Islam, an experienced internal auditor who have a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the profession. It provides practical insights and guidance on how to perform effective internal audits, including how to plan and execute audits, develop audit programs, and communicate audit findings.

Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned internal auditor, "Mastering Internal Audit Fundamentals: A Step by Step Approach" is an essential guide to help you succeed in your role. The book is designed to be a valuable resource that you can refer to throughout your career, providing you with the tools and knowledge you need to perform effective internal audits and add value to your organisation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SALIH AHMED ISLAM
• Release date: Mar 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215396629

SALIH AHMED ISLAM

Salih Ahmed Islam is a leading expert on internal audit, internal control, risk management and fraud prevention. He has several books, articles, webinars, and courses.   He has worked in multiple industries as an internal audit professional for more than 25 years.  He started his career as an auditor at Arthur Andersen, then, he worked in Turkey's dominant sectors such as textile, iron and steel, construction and petroleum. He also worked in a non-audit position as a CFO at one of the biggest FMCG companies in Egypt.  He has been working in the audit department of a large retail group operating all over the world in a global sense for the last 12 years.  He has gained experience in many sectors and different locations in the world in his career.   He has been sharing his knowledge through eBooks, webinars, online and face to face trainings. 

Book preview

Chapter 1: Introduction

Why mastering internal audit fundamentals is important?

Mastering internal audit fundamentals is important for several reasons:

Ensuring effectiveness and efficiency: Internal audit is an essential function within an organization that helps to ensure that operations are effective, efficient, and aligned with organizational goals. By mastering internal audit fundamentals, auditors can better evaluate the organization's systems and processes and provide recommendations for improvement.

Promoting good governance: Internal audit plays a critical role in promoting good governance practices within an organization. Through its independent and objective assessments, internal audit helps to ensure that the organization's operations are conducted in a responsible and ethical manner.

Managing risk: Internal audit helps organizations to identify and manage risks that could impact their operations. By mastering internal audit fundamentals, auditors can develop a risk-based approach to their audits, ensuring that the most significant risks are identified and addressed.

Adding value: By mastering internal audit fundamentals, auditors can provide valuable insights and recommendations to management. These insights can help to improve organizational performance, reduce costs, and mitigate risk.

Professional development: Mastering internal audit fundamentals is an essential part of professional development for auditors. It helps auditors to stay up-to-date with best practices, regulations, and standards, and it enables them to develop new skills and competencies that are in demand in the job market.

Chapter 2: Understanding Internal Audit Fundamentals

What is internal audit?

Internal audit is a function within an organization that helps to ensure that operations are effective, efficient, and aligned with organizational goals. The purpose of internal audit is to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of an organization's risk management, control, and governance processes.

Internal audit is an independent and objective assurance activity, which means that it operates independently from the activities it is auditing and is not biased towards any particular outcome. This independence and objectivity allow internal auditors to provide an impartial and unbiased assessment of an organization's operations.

Internal auditors are responsible for examining and evaluating an organization's systems, processes, and procedures to ensure that they are efficient, effective, and in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies. Internal auditors provide independent and objective assessments of an organization's operations and provide recommendations for improvement.

Internal audit can cover a wide range of areas, including financial reporting, compliance with laws and regulations, IT systems, operational processes, and risk management. Internal auditors use a variety of tools and techniques to gather and analyze information, including data analytics, interviews, documentation review, and observation.

Internal audit plays a critical role in promoting good governance practices within an organization. Through its independent assessments, internal audit helps to ensure that an organization's operations are conducted in a responsible and ethical manner, and that risks are effectively managed.

Internal auditors are often involved in risk management activities and assist in identifying and managing risks. They help to ensure that risks are identified, assessed, and mitigated to acceptable levels. By assessing risks, internal auditors can provide valuable insights into areas where the organization needs to improve its control environment.

Furthermore, internal audit can be a valuable resource for organizations seeking to comply with laws and regulations. Internal auditors can help ensure that an organization is meeting its compliance obligations by evaluating its compliance with laws and regulations and identifying areas where improvements are needed.

Internal audit also adds value to an organization by providing insights and recommendations to management. Internal auditors help management to identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization's operations, reduce costs, and mitigate risks. By providing these insights, internal audit