Auditing Capital Projects

When given a project to audit, the task may seem daunting and impossible. Many will not know where to start. Through this course, students will understand the importance of auditing capital projects and will learn tips and tricks to determine the project's risks and risk mitigation techniques.

The course will be a general overview and will enable an auditor to develop an audit workflow, prioritize tasks, and understand how all the pieces of the projects fit into one another. Students will be able to have a more intelligent conversation with the project management staff, as some common terms will be defined in the course. Students will also be able to develop effective audit strategies.

There are many complexities in understanding the payment process that may affect the findings discovered during the audit. Students will be walked through the chaos to better understand issues and document the correct findings amount. This course will also review some of the most common myths and misconceptions about having a contract and auditing it. Being able to understand contracts and contract risks will be discussed so that students can more effectively understand what the wording means and how a simple word can change the entire intention. Consequently, students will learn what the correct word choice should be and why the contract may not be as strong as they first imagined. Lastly, students will understand what is typically found during an audit and why the audit is important. They can bring this knowledge back to the audit committee or senior management to become a champion that will encourage further audits and to better protect the organization. There is no CPE available for this course.

Why you should take this course

For users who are new to internal auditing, or would like to learn more about it.

Here are the learning objectives we'll cover.

• Explain what goes into a successful project and identify potential project challenges.
• Describe how to prioritize tasks to mitigate risks, minimize errors, and prevent fraud.
• Define the technical terms that go into contracts and are spoken by a project manager to have more effective conversations with the project management team.
• Describe the project life cycle and explain why the life cycle is cyclical.
• Explain the invoice process, the change order process, and the importance of monthly testing.

Here are the topics we'll cover.

1. Project Types

   • What is a project?
   • Establishing a Project Management Office (PMO)
   • Choosing which projects to audit
   • Project methodology primer

2. Project Life Cycle

   • Understanding the business decision-making process
   • Project charters and executive sponsorship
   • Assessing risk – Part 1
   • Assessing risk – Part 2
   • Procurement
   • Contracting – Types of risks
   • Contracting – Problems with standardization
   • Project design and value engineering
   • Project execution
   • Change orders
   • Project conclusion and lessons learned

3. Auditing Payments

   • Understanding layers
   • Common frauds and errors
   • Determining a “true” finding
   • Applying findings to the population
   • Vendor audit vs. project audit

4. Insurance

   • Establishing what you need
   • Controlling the costs

5. Special Considerations

   • Records and document management
   • Project safety