Internal Control: The Essentials

Even on a primarily substantive audit, auditors still need to understand internal control. Our internal control CPE courses explain the concepts and procedures financial statement auditors need when understanding, evaluating, and testing an entity's system of internal control.

This four-course collection is eligible for 5.0 CPE credits and moves from foundational internal control concepts through the procedures auditors perform in practice. The courses address the auditor's understanding of internal control, evaluation of control design and implementation, testing of operating effectiveness, and evaluation of control deficiencies.

Topics covered include:

• Understanding the entity and its system of internal control
• Identifying controls relevant to the audit
• Evaluating control design and implementation
• Testing the operating effectiveness of controls
• Identifying and evaluating control deficiencies
• Connecting internal control work to the overall audit approach

Further details

The collection starts from a premise that is easy to overlook: a substantive audit does not eliminate the requirement to understand internal control. Learners first build an understanding of the entity and its system of internal control, including the controls relevant to the audit and the auditor's responsibility to evaluate whether those controls are suitably designed and implemented.

From there, the training moves beyond understanding controls to testing them. The courses explain how auditors approach operating effectiveness when they plan to rely on controls, how the results of control testing affect the audit strategy, and how identified deficiencies are evaluated and communicated. The material connects the risk-assessment concepts in standards such as AU-C 315 with the auditor's responses to assessed risks under AU-C 330, while remaining relevant to similar concepts under PCAOB auditing standards and the ISAs.

The practical objective is to help auditors make internal-control work purposeful rather than procedural - understanding how control information changes risk assessments, affects substantive testing, and supports conclusions about the financial statement audit.

Who will benefit

These courses are designed for auditors at all levels who need a stronger working knowledge of internal control, whether their engagements rely heavily on controls or are primarily substantive. They are particularly useful for engagement teams, reviewers, and firms seeking to reduce inspection or peer-review findings involving incomplete control understanding, weak design-and-implementation work, ineffective testing, or poorly evaluated deficiencies.

Value proposition

Purchase all 4 courses for $399 instead of $600 if purchased separately—a savings of $201.

Interested in group discounts? Contact us today to learn more.