I am an internal auditor. Would you be able to come up with free webinars that deal with topics concerned with internal audit?
Answers
Hi Susy - What is your education and experience background? If this is your first job out of university or your first time auditing, then you may need to take specific internal audit practice training through webinars, self-study, etc. If you already have some external or internal audit experience, you should already have the basics for internal audit procedures. In that case, it could be more helpful to you to attend webinars that cover topics about the operations and practices in different parts of the organization so that you will have an understanding of current issues and best practices in those areas. That will help you in understanding what should be audited in each area and what kinds of things can be recommended as improvements. Proformative is an excellent source for free webinars covering current issues and best practices in different accounting, finance, and general management areas of companies.
Are you part of a multiple person internal audit department or are you on your own? If part of a multiple person internal audit department, your audit manager or CAE should give you an idea of the areas in which you need training, so that you don't waste time on training that won't really be much help toward the work you are expected to do. The manager/CAE will probably have links to training programs available to the staff as a result of memberships and subscriptions the department already has.
If you are not already a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), join, even if your company won't pay the membership fee. Your local IIA chapter will have free or low cost IA training and the IIA provides monthly free webinars to members. If you are an IIA member, you can also sign up for free webinars offered by IIA institutes and affiliates in other countries. IIA Canada has an excellent series of webinars that are easy to attend for people in North America.
If the company you work for is audited by one of the Big Four, you should be able to participate in the webinars they offer for free to clients on various accounting, finance, and management topics. Proper professional courtesy to get access would be to go through your manager/CAE or CFO, if you report directly to Finance-Accounting.
If you are looking for low cost or free IA tools and resources, you need to subscribe to AuditNet (www.auditnet.org).
I have other suggestions of sources for free webinars that can be useful for internal auditors. Please message me from my profile and I will send the suggestions to you. That offer is open to any others who read this.