Auditing Culture: Challenges and Proven Techniques

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Organizational culture has become an increasingly important issue for internal auditors, in light of corporate scandals in which culture is typically at the root of unethical behavior and practices. Over 90 percent of CEOs and CFOs see culture as critical and believe improving corporate culture would increase value in their organizations (Corporate Culture: Evidence from the Field; Duke University, 2015).

The role of internal audit in assessing organizational culture has not always been clearly defined, and culture is not an easy area to audit using traditional audit approaches. Results from The IIA’s 2016  North American Pulse of Internal Audit report indicate that only 42 percent of internal auditors are addressing culture within their organizations, yet more than half of CAEs see organizational culture as high risk.

The increasing attention to and need for auditing culture requires an understanding of effective strategies and practical considerations for internal audit. This course gives participants a solid understanding of the challenges involved in auditing culture. They will take away proven evaluation tools and techniques for assessing culture, examples of audit reports addressing cultural issues, and techniques for gaining support from leadership.

This course is designed for CAEs, internal audit managers, and internal audit supervisors who want to develop or enhance their audit strategy as it relates to organizational culture.

Course Objectives

• Explain why evaluating organizational culture is a best practice.
• Recognize focus areas that can be assessed using current professional guidance.
• Identify tools, techniques, and strategies for auditing organizational culture.
• Describe strategies for gaining acceptance and support from management.