What You Will Learn
1. Project Management and Audit
- defining project management and the project management process
- major processes in the Life of a Project
- major processes in an internal audit
- project management’s relevance to internal audit
- expanding audit project leaders’ core competencies

2. Cornerstones of Project Management
- what is a project?
- the project triangle
- key project management definitions
- 9 knowledge areas of project management
- elements of a project plan
- mapping, scheduling, and controlling the project
- allocating resources
- identifying problems early in the process

3. Applying Project Management Strategies to IA
- why project management?
- successful audit/project management: key factors
- the audit/project planning process
- using project management to plan audits
- time estimates
- common workflow planning problems
- managing resources
- guidelines and examples of good audit/project management
- improving time management

4. Applying Project Management to the Audit Process
- the benefits of adopting a project management focus
- the relationship of planning to control
- maximizing your investment in planning
- developing a work breakdown structure
- developing early warning systems
- minimizing your investment in fieldwork
- writing and issuing meaningful reports promptly

5. Practice Case
- defining project scope and requirements
- developing the Project Work Plan
- defining activity dependencies and creating network diagrams
- estimating work
- producing a project plan
- monitoring and controlling projects
- closing the project

6. The Successful Project Manager
- project manager attributes
- roles and responsibilities
- focus areas: communication, motivation, and problem-solving
- 7 ways to succeed
- 7 ways to fail
- directing and managing others
- conducting meetings and interviews
- rational and creative problem-solving techniques

7. Meeting Today’s Audit Challenges with Project Management Techniques
- how the project manager’s role differs in compliance and operational reviews
- multi-tasking: an essential competency for managing operational audits
- how to avoid bottlenecks
- how to differentiate workflows for assurance and consulting reviews
- how to manage your project when you don’t know the final product at the onset
- Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
- enterprisewide risk assessment
- special projects

8. 50 Project Management Tips for Improving Audit Productivity