How to Evaluate Corporate Culture

What you will gain from this seminar:

  • Five common-sense principles for evaluating “soft” controls
  • Twenty-one proven cultural evaluation tools from world-class audit departments
  • Examples of audit report comments on soft control weaknesses
  • How to develop tools that will work in your own organization
  • How to sell the radical expansion of audit scope to management
Who should attend:
  • Auditors with at least one year of experience
  • No prerequisites

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Two-Day Seminar Outline

Why Evaluating the Corporate Culture is a Best Practice

  • The COSO challenge
  • What our Standards say
  • A “working inventory” of soft controls (i.e., elements of the corporate culture)
  • Five essential principles for evaluating soft controls
  • Overview of 2010 IIARF book, Best Practices: Evaluating the Corporate Culture
  • Overview of techniques used for evaluating soft controls

Audit Project Evaluation Techniques: Surveys
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic case study
  • Three best practice surveys from 2010 research and how they are used
  • Guidelines for developing and administering audit project surveys
  • Exercise: Develop survey questions
  • Advantages/disadvantages of audit project surveys

Audit Project Evaluation Techniques: Participative, Risk-Based Audits
  • Three best practice examples from 2010 research,
  • Keys to success for small and very large audit departments
  • Guidelines for evaluating soft controls during risk-based audits
  • Advantages/disadvantages of participative, risk-based audits

Entity-Wide Evaluation Techniques: Structured Interviews and Workshops
  • Management Interview Guide and Self-Assessment Tool
  • Management interviews and test to corroborate
  • Two examples from 2010 research
  • Guidelines for Structured Interviews
  • Advantages/disadvantages of structured interviews

Entity-Wide Evaluation Techniques: Surveys
  • Four surveys from 2010 research and how they are applied
  • Guidelines for developing and administering entity-wide surveys
  • Advantages/disadvantages of entity-wide surveys

Combination of Techniques
  • Three best practice examples from 2010 research
  • Guidelines for Choosing the Best Technique for your Organization
  • Advantages/disadvantages of each technique

Reporting Soft Control Issues
  • Report excerpts from audit reports based on surveys
  • Entire report from a combination of techniques
  • Report excerpts from a combination of techniques

Audit Project Evaluation Techniques: CSA Workshops
  • The two basic techniques
  • Two best practice examples
  • Benefits, guidelines, and how workshops are being used today
  • Advantages/disadvantages of CSA workshops

How To Make It Happen
  • Critical steps in implementing your new tools and techniques
  • Developing an implementation strategy
  • Selling the new approach to management
  • Internal control training for management and/or all employees
  • Benefits of evaluating elements of the corporate culture