ISO 19011 Management System Auditing Training Course

Course overview

Finance and accounting teams depend on controlled processes for close, reconciliations, expense approvals, revenue recognition, master-data changes, and management reporting. When these processes are audited inconsistently, findings can be weakly evidenced, root causes can be missed, and corrective actions may not prevent recurrence. This course equips experienced finance professionals and internal auditors to plan and conduct management system audits using the ISO 19011 approach, with particular attention to evidence, risk, process performance, and defensible audit conclusions.

Participants learn how to apply ISO 19011:2018 principles across finance and accounting processes: defining audit objectives and scope, assessing audit risk, preparing process-based audit plans, developing audit criteria, sampling records, interviewing process owners, testing controls, and documenting findings. The course distinguishes nonconformities, observations, and opportunities for improvement, and shows how to write findings that link objective evidence to stated requirements. Participants also practise evaluating corrective-action plans and verifying whether actions address the underlying cause.

Delivery combines instructor-led technical sessions with finance-focused cases, audit interview simulations, document reviews, and group calibration exercises. Participants build an audit package for a realistic finance process, including an audit plan, checklist, sampling rationale, interview questions, evidence log, finding report, and corrective-action follow-up record. They leave with a practical ISO 19011-based audit toolkit that can be adapted for internal audits of accounting operations, financial controls, and supporting management systems.

The course is best suited to professionals who already understand core finance operations and now need a consistent, risk-based method for auditing how those operations are controlled, performed, measured, and improved.

Course objectives

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

• Apply the seven ISO 19011 auditing principles to finance and accounting audit assignments
• Define audit objectives, scope, criteria, risks, and resources in a documented audit programme
• Build a process-based audit plan for close, reconciliation, approval, or reporting processes
• Develop audit checklists that trace financial-process requirements to verifiable evidence
• Conduct evidence-based interviews using open, probing, and corroborating questioning techniques
• Select and justify records samples using risk, materiality, frequency, and control reliance
• Write nonconformity reports that link audit criteria, objective evidence, and clear statements of nonconformity
• Evaluate corrective-action plans and document follow-up verification of root-cause removal

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Internal Auditors — who need a repeatable method for auditing finance processes and reporting defensible findings
• Finance Managers — who oversee close, reporting, reconciliation, and approval controls that require independent review
• Financial Controllers — who must demonstrate that accounting processes are controlled, measured, and continually improved
• Compliance Officers — who coordinate management system audits and need ISO 19011-consistent audit practices
• Risk Managers — who assess process-level risk and need evidence from structured audit activity
• Quality Management Professionals — who audit support functions and need to apply management system methods within finance

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working knowledge of finance or accounting operations, such as month-end close, reconciliations, invoice approval, journal entries, financial reporting, or control documentation. Familiarity with internal-control concepts, process maps, policies, and basic risk assessment is expected. Participants should be comfortable reviewing spreadsheets, procedures, and sample transaction records; Microsoft Excel is used for simple evidence and sampling exercises. Prior audit experience is helpful but not essential. No previous ISO 19011 training, lead auditor qualification, specialist audit software, statistical background, or external-audit experience is required.

Training methodology

An experienced instructor leads short technical briefings on ISO 19011 requirements and immediately applies each method to finance-process scenarios. Participants review procedures, reconciliations, approval records, dashboards, and sample transaction evidence; conduct simulated interviews; and calibrate findings in small audit teams. Group discussions compare audit judgments, sampling choices, and finding classifications against stated criteria. The final day uses an end-to-end case to consolidate planning, evidence collection, reporting, and follow-up, followed by individual application planning for a live audit assignment.

Course outline

Day 1: ISO 19011 foundations for finance process audits

• Purpose and structure of ISO 19011:2018
• Seven principles of management system auditing
• Audit programmes, objectives, scope, and criteria
• Process-based auditing of finance operations
• Audit risk, materiality, and significance
• Roles, responsibilities, and auditor competence
• Ethical conduct, confidentiality, and due professional care

Workshop: Participants map a month-end close process and define an ISO 19011 audit objective, scope, criteria, and key risks.

Day 2: Planning a risk-based finance audit

• Reviewing policies, process maps, and prior findings
• Identifying process inputs, outputs, controls, and measures
• Building a risk-based audit plan
• Developing audit trails for reconciliations and approvals
• Translating requirements into audit questions
• Sampling strategies for transaction and control testing
• Preparing opening meeting agendas and audit communications

Workshop: Participants create an audit plan, sampling rationale, and checklist for an accounts payable approval process.

Day 3: Evidence collection and audit interviewing

• Objective evidence versus unsupported assertion
• Document review techniques for finance records
• Interview planning and question sequencing
• Open, probing, and corroborating audit questions
• Tracing transactions from source to reporting output
• Testing control operation and exception handling
• Maintaining evidence logs and audit working papers

Workshop: In a simulated audit interview, participants test reconciliation controls and produce an evidence log supported by records and interview notes.

Day 4: Findings, reporting, and corrective action

• Evaluating evidence against audit criteria
• Classifying nonconformities, observations, and improvement opportunities
• Writing clear nonconformity statements
• Linking findings to objective evidence and requirement references
• Conducting closing meetings with process owners
• Root-cause analysis using five whys and cause-and-effect diagrams
• Corrective-action assessment and follow-up verification

Workshop: Participants draft and calibrate finding reports for failed approval controls, incomplete reconciliations, and recurring close exceptions.

Day 5: Leading integrated audit assignments

• Managing audit team roles and audit time
• Auditing remote and hybrid finance processes
• Using Excel to organise samples and evidence
• Assessing process performance indicators and trend data
• Handling disagreement and challenging audit interviews
• Reporting to audit sponsors and process leadership
• Building a personal audit application plan

Workshop: Teams complete an end-to-end audit case and submit a finance-process audit pack containing a plan, evidence log, findings, and follow-up actions.

Tools & standards covered

ISO 19011:2018, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 31000:2018, Microsoft Excel

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions