This course provides an overview of the methodology and guidelines to help you outline an audit plan for your institution. You will learn how to define audit scope and determine the audit approach which fits your organization. The course provides tips for successful audits and reviews audit areas for each functional department of a typical campus, including admissions, financial aid, student accounts, education/academics, and career services. Other business areas including marketing and advertising, human resources, information security and other key areas are also reviewed to provide you with a full scope audit outline. The course concludes with information on reports, audit documentation, and follow-up recommendations following the field audit activities.

Module 1: The Nuts and Bolts of Internal Audits

• Provide sound rationale to your institution justifying an internal audit process.
• Identify the various types of regulatory bodies and determine which impact your particular institution(s).
• Examine options to determine audit scope.
• Recognize items to consider in establishing audit methodology.
• Recognize tips that lead to successful audits.

Module 2: Internal Audits of Functional Departments

• Establish the foundation of an audit plan for each functional campus department including admissions, financial aid, student accounts, academics and career services.
• Describe some of the drivers prompting some of the regulations in place today.
• Identify potential areas for inclusion in audit testing for admissions, financial aid, student accounts, academics and career services.
• Recognize some of the important regulations for inclusion in the audit.

Module 3: Internal Audits of General Business Areas

• Develop an audit plan incorporating general business operating areas including marketing, human resources and information security.
• Identify specific audit areas for consideration related to marketing and advertising, human resources and information security.
• List options and resources to establish appropriate document retention guidelines.
• Recognize the need to include copyright and licensing reviews as part of a comprehensive audit plan.
• Determine which schools/organizations must comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and why some schools choose to use these guidelines voluntarily.

Module 4: Documentation of Internal Audits

• Identify options for reporting findings in an audit report.
• Examine concepts related to work paper supporting documentation.
• Describe the fundamentals of corrective action plans.
• Recognize the need for post-audit follow up.
• Determine methods to validate various action items from corrective plans.