# Assessing Controls in Performance Audits Course (Self-Paced)

Canonical URL: <https://www.graduateschool.edu/courses/assessing-controls-in-performance-audits-course-self-paced>

## Overview

This course gives federal auditors and oversight professionals practical tools for evaluating whether internal controls are designed, implemented, and operating effectively in the context of performance audits. You will learn what internal controls are, how they support stewardship and program performance, and how to apply Government Auditing Standards and the GAO Green Book when considering controls during audit planning. The course walks through how to identify control-related risks, integrate control assessment into the survey phase, and develop audit objectives, scope, and methodology for audits that assess controls directly or examine controls as a cause of poor performance.

Through examples, exercises, and a final case study, you will practice documenting controls using narrative descriptions, flowcharts, and cross-functional process maps, then organizing and reporting control deficiencies in a way that aligns evidence with criteria, condition, effect, cause, and recommendations. By the end of the course, you will be better prepared to plan control-focused performance audits, document your understanding of processes and controls, and communicate significant control findings clearly and in accordance with GAGAS (the Yellow Book).

## What you'll learn

- Recognize what internal controls are and their uses.
- Apply the Government Auditing Standards guidance for considering controls in planning an audit.
- Integrate an assessment of controls in the survey phase.
- Plan an audit to assess controls, including development of objectives and selection of the scope and methodology to achieve the objectives.
- Document internal controls.
- Develop and report findings on control deficiencies.

## Curriculum

#### Module 1: Importance of Internal Controls

- Explain what internal controls are and how they are used.
- Explain the relationship between controls and processes, and how both affect program performance.
- Explain the types of controls and their purposes.
- Describe a model for a system of internal control.
- Describe two ways to monitor the effectiveness of a system of internal control.

#### Module 2: Government Standards for Implementing and Auditing Controls

- Decide when and how the government auditing standard for assessing controls applies.
- Discuss the “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” and apply them to a case exercise.

#### Module 3: Integrating Assessment of Controls in the Survey Phase

- Name three purposes of a survey.
- Decide what information needs to be pursued in a given survey using a list of common information needs.
- Cite sources of needed information.
- Apply one risk assessment method to select subject areas and controls for a follow-on audit.

#### Module 4: Planning Audits to Assess Controls

- Explain the basic approaches for conducting performance audits and the purpose of examining processes and controls in each approach.
- Describe the matters to consider when planning an audit to assess controls.
- Formulate audit objectives for assessing controls that clearly state what the audit is intended to accomplish.
- Apply a step-by-step process for designing performance audits to achieve the audit objectives and use a matrix to document the design.

#### Module 5: Documenting Controls

- Explore two key documentation methods: narrative description and flowcharting.
- Use flowcharts and process maps to visualize control structures.
- Understand how documentation supports control evaluation.

#### Module 6: Reporting Control Findings

- Describe the requirements for reporting on controls and how they are applied.
- Identify the nature of deficiencies in internal controls.
- Organize a finding by preparing an outline that aligns audit evidence with the appropriate finding element.

#### Module 7: Case Exercise

- Apply all learned concepts in a comprehensive case scenario.
- Identify mission-specific and integrity risks in real-world audit situations.
- Evaluate internal control effectiveness and formulate audit findings.

## Pricing

**Tuition:** $1049