Application Controls (AC) in Operational Processes uncovered

Overview

Digitalisation has accelerated the automation of business operational processes. This has made our lives easier in many ways, but the underlying technology also brings new risks. Companies that want to have and maintain control over digitalisation must be able to identify those risks and, where necessary, tackle them. The role of Internal Audit is to audit both the operational business process and the underlying Application systems’ risks to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive picture.

Target Audience

This training requires a basic knowledge of IT and audit skills.

Course Objectives

This course teaches you how to integrate IT and digital risks in the operational audits that you perform on existing business processes. You will learn how IT and digital risks can influence those processes and how you can identify and audit them.

You will learn, through practical examples, how to perform a combined business and application systems audit in a risk-based audit approach. You will also learn about the consequences application systems and digital risks can have for organisations and how you can best deal with those consequences. It goes without saying that you will be provided with all the tricks and techniques to perform combined audits properly and according to the latest insights.

This training does not cover the ITGCs (General IT Controls) – see training “Understanding & auditing Business processes’ risks related to IT (IT General Controls)”

This training is based on an extensive case study.

• Identifying and describing the business process’ scope ready for risk assessment
• Mastering the operational audit process
•  Identifying the types of automation in the business processes
• Assessing the application system’s risks impacting business

Course Content

• Application Systems and operational audit definition, contents, scoping
• Operational process management & documentation
• Mastering the operational audit process
• Identifying the types of automation in the business processes
• Performing the integrated audit scoping, risk assessment and assignment (work programme evaluation and testing)
• ITGCs (a short summary)
• Application controls extended (in the Preparation, Input, Process and Output phases of a business process) – also in ERP systems and UDAs EUC).
• Assessing mitigating application controls in the operational process audit
• References documents – ready to use