Give your readers findings they never have to decode.
Stakeholders judge internal audit one finding at a time. A strong finding builds credibility and gets action – a weak one wastes the reader’s time, and audit pays for it in trust.
This workshop is squarely focused on writing audit findings: guidance, language, and exercises for each attribute in line with the IIA’s Global Internal Audit Standards – one red thread from the finding title to agreed actions that mitigate the identified risk and pave the way to achieving the organization’s objectives.
The bar is high and specific: findings the reader understands in one pass and answers with “got it – we’ll do it.” When findings hit that bar, the conversation with audit clients changes – less negotiating over words, more discussion of the risk and what it means to the business. And the benefit travels upward: the executive summary is distilled from the findings – stronger findings make a stronger summary.
This is a working workshop: concepts are explored through discussion and exercises, with writing practice and live critique from the group and the trainer in every round – ensuring participants leave writing stronger findings, starting with the very next finding they draft.
What changes:
- Findings are complete and coherent – nothing missing, nothing padded, every element pulling in the same direction.
- Risks resonate – readers feel them and see what they mean for the business.
- Readers finish each finding knowing exactly what happens next – and why it’s worth doing.
- Writing gets faster – writers know what goes where and why, so the circling stops.
- Review rounds decrease – findings arrive closer to final, and the wording holds when audit clients push back.
Format
One day in person, or two virtual half-days.
Working material
The strongest results come from working on your own writing – participants are encouraged to bring anonymized findings from their own audits, and realistic practice material is provided as an alternative. For in-house deliveries, the team works on its own findings in its own confidential environment.
Want to know more? Contact me!