Organisational Culture Auditing Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Internal Auditors, Internal Audit Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-128

Before you join: Participants should understand basic internal audit concepts, including risk assessment, audit evidence, controls, findings and recommendations.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Organisational culture can strengthen controls, reporting quality and ethical decision-making, or quietly weaken them. Internal audit teams are increasingly asked to assess whether incentives, leadership conduct, speaking-up practices and informal norms support the organisation’s stated values and risk appetite. A culture audit requires more than staff surveys: auditors must define auditable culture risks, gather credible behavioural evidence, test governance responses and report findings without reducing culture to opinion.

This course equips participants to plan and conduct evidence-based audits of organisational behaviour and culture. Participants examine how culture affects financial reporting, fraud risk, conduct risk, control override, whistleblowing and regulatory compliance. They apply recognised models including Edgar Schein’s culture framework, the Competing Values Framework, COSO principles and the IIA Global Internal Audit Standards. The course covers audit scoping, risk assessment, interview design, survey analysis, observation, data triangulation, root-cause analysis and reporting.

Teaching combines focused briefings with banking, public-sector, NGO and multinational case material. Participants assess realistic audit evidence, prepare interview questions, analyse culture indicators, form findings and discuss difficult reporting judgements. Each participant leaves with a reusable organisational culture audit toolkit containing a risk-and-control matrix, evidence plan, interview guide, culture indicators dashboard and reporting template.

The course suits internal auditors, compliance professionals, risk managers, finance leaders and governance specialists who need to assess conduct and behavioural drivers behind control failures. It is particularly relevant where boards, audit committees or regulators require clearer assurance over conduct, ethics and organisational culture.

What you will be able to do

  • Define auditable culture risks using Schein’s three-level culture framework
  • Scope a culture audit using risk-based planning and materiality criteria
  • Design interview, survey and document-review procedures for behavioural evidence
  • Assess culture against COSO principles, conduct expectations and stated values
  • Triangulate qualitative and quantitative evidence to support defensible audit conclusions
  • Identify root causes linking incentives, leadership behaviour and control failures
  • Draft culture audit findings with criteria, evidence, impact and practical recommendations
  • Produce a culture assurance action plan for audit committee reporting

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Conduct culture audits without relying solely on employee engagement survey results
  • Frame behavioural concerns as auditable risks with defined criteria and evidence
  • Handle sensitive interviews about ethics, pressure, retaliation and control override
  • Write findings that distinguish isolated misconduct from systemic cultural weaknesses
  • Present culture assurance conclusions credibly to senior management and audit committees

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of conduct drivers behind fraud, misreporting and control breakdowns
  • More reliable assurance over ethics programmes, whistleblowing and management tone
  • Better targeted remediation for incentive, accountability and escalation weaknesses
  • Stronger audit committee reporting on culture-related risks and management actions
  • Improved evidence for regulatory reviews of conduct, governance and internal control

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define organisational culture and translate behavioural concerns into auditable risk statements.

  • Edgar Schein’s artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions model
  • Distinguishing organisational culture, climate, engagement and individual misconduct
  • Culture risk links to financial reporting, fraud and control override
  • Board accountability for culture under governance and assurance arrangements
  • Stated values tested against incentives, decisions and everyday behaviours
  • Material culture risks identified through business model and stakeholder analysis

Participants can establish suitable audit criteria from governance requirements, standards and internal commitments.

  • IIA Global Internal Audit Standards applied to culture assurance engagements
  • COSO principles connecting ethical values, accountability and internal controls
  • ISO 37301 compliance management requirements for culture and conduct
  • Audit charters, ethics codes and conduct policies as criteria
  • Three lines model responsibilities for culture risk ownership
  • Audit committee questions that define meaningful culture assurance

Participants can prioritise culture risks and prepare a focused, risk-based audit scope.

  • Risk universe mapping for conduct, ethics and behavioural failures
  • Inherent risk ratings based on pressure, opportunity and rationalisation
  • Fraud triangle indicators linked to cultural warning signs
  • Scope boundaries set by business unit, population and period
  • Materiality criteria for qualitative harm, regulatory exposure and control failure
  • Audit objectives converted into testable questions and evidence needs

Participants can select and apply diagnostic models appropriate to an audit objective.

  • Competing Values Framework: clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy cultures
  • Denison model dimensions: mission, adaptability, involvement and consistency
  • Ethical culture assessed through tone, fairness and accountability
  • Psychological safety indicators used when reviewing speaking-up practices
  • Subcultures analysed across functions, locations and management layers
  • Framework selection aligned with risk hypotheses and audit criteria

Participants can design proportionate procedures that combine behavioural, documentary and data evidence.

  • Evidence matrix linking audit questions, sources, tests and conclusions
  • Document review of policies, disciplinary records and committee minutes
  • Employee survey results tested for response bias and segmentation
  • HR data analysed for turnover, grievances and promotion patterns
  • Whistleblowing trends examined by allegation type, location and outcome
  • Triangulation protocol comparing interviews, records, observations and analytics

Participants can gather reliable behavioural evidence through structured, ethical engagement methods.

  • Semi-structured interview guides built from audit objectives and hypotheses
  • Open questions eliciting examples of pressure, challenge and escalation
  • Cognitive bias controls for interviewer framing and confirmation bias
  • Focus group protocols protecting confidentiality and participant safety
  • Observation notes documenting decision behaviours, meetings and informal norms
  • Interview evidence corroborated before forming audit conclusions

Participants can test whether management systems reinforce or undermine expected behaviours.

  • Tone from the top assessed through decisions and resource allocation
  • Performance scorecards reviewed for conduct, quality and financial targets
  • Incentive design tested for excessive sales pressure and gaming
  • Consequences management examined through disciplinary case consistency
  • Delegated authority limits tested against actual approval behaviour
  • Management challenge assessed through committee papers and meeting records

Participants can analyse culture evidence, identify systemic causes and reach balanced conclusions.

  • Thematic coding converts interview narratives into auditable evidence patterns
  • Five Whys analysis traces behavioural symptoms to management system causes
  • Fishbone diagrams categorise people, process, incentives and governance causes
  • Contradictory evidence assessed using reliability, relevance and corroboration criteria
  • Outlier analysis identifies units requiring deeper culture audit testing
  • Professional scepticism applied when leadership narratives conflict with evidence

Participants can communicate culture audit findings clearly while managing sensitivity and fairness.

  • Finding structure: criteria, condition, cause, consequence and recommendation
  • Culture findings distinguished from allegations requiring formal investigation
  • Severity ratings consider conduct harm, control exposure and recurrence
  • Recommendations address system causes rather than individual blame alone
  • Audit reports use precise language for behavioural evidence limitations
  • Management responses tested for ownership, milestones and measurable outcomes

Participants can establish follow-up measures and prepare a practical culture assurance plan.

  • Culture indicators dashboard combining leading and lagging measures
  • Key risk indicators for speak-up, turnover and conduct breaches
  • Remediation tracking assigns owners, dates, evidence and closure criteria
  • Follow-up testing confirms behavioural change beyond policy implementation
  • Audit committee reporting presents trends, residual risks and overdue actions
  • Ninety-day application plan prioritises culture assurance actions and stakeholders

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Culture audit risk-and-control matrix
  2. Behavioural evidence planning template
  3. Semi-structured interview guide
  4. Culture indicators dashboard model
  5. Root-cause analysis worksheet
  6. Culture audit reporting template

Who should attend

  • Internal Auditors — need defensible methods for assessing behavioural and conduct risks
  • Internal Audit Managers — need to scope, supervise and report culture assurance engagements
  • Compliance Managers — need evidence on whether policies shape actual employee conduct
  • Risk Managers — need insight into cultural drivers behind operational and conduct risk
  • Finance Controllers — need to assess pressures affecting reporting integrity and control adherence
  • Governance Officers — need assurance evidence for boards, committees and ethics functions

Skills and tools covered

Culture risk assessmentBehavioural evidence gatheringConduct risk auditingInterview techniqueRoot-cause analysisCulture audit reporting

Tools and standards

IIA Global Internal Audit Standards, COSO Internal Control Framework, ISO 37301, Competing Values Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings, facilitated discussion and structured case work drawn from regulated and mission-led organisations. Participants apply audit planning tools to culture-risk scenarios, review simulated interview and survey evidence, and compare competing interpretations of behavioural data. Small-group work focuses on audit scope, testing methods, root causes and report wording. A culture-audit simulation develops judgement on sensitive findings, evidence sufficiency and escalation. Participants finish by adapting the toolkit into an application plan for their own assurance priorities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic internal audit concepts, including risk assessment, audit evidence, controls, findings and recommendations. Experience in internal audit, compliance, risk, finance control, HR governance or investigations is helpful. Participants should be comfortable reading policies, reviewing management information and discussing workplace behaviour professionally. Prior knowledge of organisational psychology, employee survey design or statistical modelling is not required. The course does not require specialist software, programming skills or formal audit certification. Participants will benefit most if they can relate the methods to a current or planned assurance assignment.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

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

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need a working knowledge of audit, compliance, risk or control concepts. No organisational psychology qualification, survey-design expertise or statistical software experience is required.

Bring a laptop if possible, plus a sanitised example of a culture, conduct, ethics or whistleblowing issue from your organisation. Course materials and reusable templates are provided.

The course is designed primarily for internal auditors and audit managers. It also suits compliance, risk, governance, finance control and HR governance professionals involved in conduct assurance.

This course treats culture as a source of audit risk and assurance evidence. It focuses on audit criteria, testing methods, evidence quality, findings and reporting rather than culture-change programmes or employee engagement campaigns.

Participants can use the evidence plan, interview guide and dashboard model to scope a culture-focused audit or add culture procedures to an existing audit. The methods also support reviews of fraud risk, whistleblowing, conduct and control override.

The programme contains ten modules delivered across five training days, each running from 08:30 to 16:30 with approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group application, simulated audit work and planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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