Performance Audits and Corporate Accountability Training Course

Course overview

A financial audit asks whether the numbers are right. A compliance audit asks whether the rules were followed. A performance audit asks a harder question: is this program of work economical, efficient and effective, and is it delivering what it was funded to deliver. The subject is value, not correctness, and the evidence is far harder to assemble.

This course covers performance auditing across five units: the discipline, the frameworks and standards, conducting the audit, reporting, and embedding it in corporate governance. It is educational and does not certify participants.

Why performance audit is uncomfortable

Because it evaluates decisions rather than transactions. A performance audit of a five-year transformation initiative will inevitably comment on whether the objectives were realistic, whether the benefits claimed were ever measurable, and whether the sponsor's reporting reflected reality. That makes it politically sensitive in a way a payables audit is not.

It also requires a different evidence base: performance data whose quality has never been tested, benefit claims made in a business case nobody revisited, and comparison against organizations that measure things differently. The technique is largely about establishing criteria that both the auditor and the auditee accept before the work begins.

Course objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Scope a performance audit around value-for-money questions.
• Word audit criteria from objectives agreed before fieldwork.
• Question a decision while its sponsor is still in post.
• Verify performance data whose reliability nobody has tested.
• Trace a claimed benefit to what was actually delivered.
• Judge a decision on what was known at the time.
• Conclude on performance without turning the report into a weapon.
• Embed performance auditing in the governance cycle.

Course outline

Unit 1: Introduction to performance auditing

• Economy, efficiency and effectiveness as three questions.
• Performance audit against financial and compliance audit.
• Origins of the discipline in public sector accountability.
• Private sector capital projects and shared services.

Unit 2: Frameworks and standards for performance audits

• Public sector audit standards and the IIA framework.
• A business case that claimed a benefit nobody measured.
• Setting criteria from policy standards and benchmarks.
• Independence and objectivity in auditing a live decision.

Unit 3: Conducting performance audits

• Scoping the question with the audit committee in advance.
• Evidence from performance data, cost data and interviews.
• Testing data reliability because it was never audited.
• Unit cost comparison, benchmarking and trend analysis.

Unit 4: Reporting and accountability

• Findings with a counterfactual and the value foregone.
• Distinguishing a bad decision from a bad outcome.
• Handling an audit report that embarrasses a sponsor.
• Publishing conclusions where the public can read them.

Unit 5: Embedding audits in corporate governance

• Choosing a performance engagement over other audit work.
• Benefits realization after transformation initiatives.
• Follow-up on whether a recommendation changed performance.
• Accountability culture and the consequence of a finding.

How the course is delivered

The course works from published performance audit reports, business cases, benefits claims and performance data that participants examine and challenge in discussion. Worked examples take an initiative from its original business case through to a benefits realization assessment. The course is educational and does not certify participants or assess any organization. Participants who want the control-focused audit discipline should look at Internal Risk Audits and Control Systems.

Who should attend

• Internal auditors extending into performance and value-for-money work.
• Public sector auditors and accountability professionals.
• PMO and transformation staff responsible for benefits realization.
• Audit committee members and executives who commission performance reviews.

About EuroQuest International Training

EuroQuest International Training was founded in 2015 by a team with more than 25 years of experience in professional development. We run over 1,000 courses and have trained more than 15,000 participants. Our head office is in Bratislava, Slovakia, with hubs in Dubai, London, Barcelona, Istanbul, Vienna, Paris and Geneva. Courses are written and reviewed by practitioners from the fields they cover.

Frequently asked questions

Is performance audit only a public sector discipline?

It originated there and remains strongest there, but private organizations increasingly apply it to transformation initiatives, capital projects and shared services, where benefits are claimed and rarely verified.

How do you audit a decision without second-guessing management?

By auditing the process and the evidence: were the objectives clear, was the data reliable, were benefits measurable, was the outcome tracked. The course is careful about the line between evaluating a process and substituting your own judgment.

Does the course include a live lab?

No. There is no software environment. The sessions use published audit reports, business cases and performance data analyzed in discussion.

Related courses

• Best Practices in Internal and External Auditing
• Developing Audit Reports with Impact
• Auditing for Business Transparency and Integrity
• Measuring and Benchmarking Risk Performance

Register for this course

Select a city and date from the schedule above to register, or contact EuroQuest about in-house delivery for an audit or governance team.