Agile Internal Auditing

Introduction

Organisations are changing faster than traditional annual audit plans can keep up with. Stakeholders want timely insight on emerging risks, shorter audits and reports that focus on what matters. Many internal audit functions are therefore adopting agile principles to deliver more value with greater flexibility.

This Agile Internal Auditing training course explains how agile ways of working can be applied to internal audit while maintaining professional standards and quality. Participants learn about dynamic risk-based planning, audit backlogs, sprints, stand-ups, collaborative fieldwork with stakeholders, minimum viable reporting and continuous feedback.

The course is practical and realistic, recognising the challenges of moving away from traditional approaches and showing how to start small, demonstrate results and scale agile practice across the audit function.

Course Objectives

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

• Explain agile values and principles and their relevance to auditing
• Compare traditional and agile audit approaches
• Build a dynamic, risk-based audit backlog and plan
• Plan and run audits in sprints with clear goals
• Use agile ceremonies such as stand-ups and retrospectives
• Collaborate with stakeholders throughout the audit
• Deliver concise, timely reporting and insight
• Maintain quality and conformance with professional standards

Target Audience

This training course is suitable for a wide range of professionals, including:

• Chief audit executives and heads of internal audit
• Audit managers and team leaders
• Senior and staff internal auditors
• Quality assurance and methodology leads
• Risk and compliance professionals interested in agile assurance
• Audit analytics and data specialists

Training Methodology

The course is highly practical. Participants experience agile methods by running a simulated audit in short sprints, using a visual task board, daily stand-ups and retrospectives. Case studies from audit functions that have adopted agile approaches are discussed, along with common challenges and solutions.

Target Competencies

• Agile mindset
• Dynamic audit planning
• Sprint planning and execution
• Stakeholder collaboration
• Concise reporting
• Quality in agile assurance

Day One: Agile Principles for Internal Audit

• Origins of agile and its core values and principles
• Why internal audit is adopting agile approaches
• Comparing traditional and agile audit life cycles
• Common myths and misconceptions about agile auditing
• Professional standards and agile compatibility
• Readiness assessment for agile adoption
• Exercise: assessing your audit function's readiness

Day Two: Agile Audit Planning

• Moving from annual plans to rolling, dynamic plans
• Building and prioritising an audit backlog
• Defining audit epics and user stories
• Engaging stakeholders in prioritisation
• Capacity planning and team roles
• Responding to emerging risks quickly
• Workshop: building a prioritised audit backlog

Day Three: Running Audits in Sprints

• Sprint planning and defining sprint goals
• Visual task boards and work in progress limits
• Daily stand-up meetings for audit teams
• Collaborative fieldwork with process owners
• Sharing emerging findings early
• Sprint reviews and retrospectives
• Simulation: running an audit sprint

Day Four: Agile Reporting and Stakeholder Engagement

• Minimum viable audit reports and concise insight
• Real-time communication of findings
• Agreeing actions during the audit
• Visual and dashboard style reporting
• Reporting to audit committees in an agile model
• Managing stakeholder expectations during agile audits
• Exercise: rewriting a long report in agile format

Day Five: Quality, Metrics and Scaling Agile

• Maintaining documentation and quality standards
• Metrics for agile audit performance
• Training and coaching audit teams in agile
• Hybrid approaches that combine agile and traditional methods
• Overcoming resistance and sustaining change
• Roadmap for scaling agile across the function
• Personal action plan for agile internal auditing