Understanding What Internal Controls Are, How They Work, and Where They Fit
This course is part of The Complete Guide to Risk and Internal Controls, a comprehensive training series designed to build practical knowledge and skills in identifying, assessing, managing, and responding to risks through effective internal controls.
Internal Controls 101: Foundations, Types & Frameworks introduces the building blocks of internal controls and the broader systems that support them. Learners will distinguish internal controls from policies, procedures, and routine process steps; explore how controls help organizations manage risk; and examine the characteristics and dependencies that influence whether controls work effectively. The course also introduces major internal control frameworks and shows how controls can be classified based on when they act, how they operate, and where they operate within an organization.
Topics Covered
• What internal controls are and why they matter
• Internal controls vs. policies, procedures, and process steps
• How internal controls help manage risk
• Internal control dependencies
• COSO Internal Control Framework
• COBIT
• ISO/IEC 27001
• Preventive, detective, and corrective controls
• Manual controls
• Automated controls
• IT-dependent manual controls
• Entity-level controls
• Process-level controls
• Transaction-level controls
• Bringing multiple control classifications together
Audit Smarter, not Harder - with Elizabeth and Audie the Internal Otteror!
Elizabeth McDowell, CPA, CIA has over 20 years of audit experience and is the founder of Audit Forward, an innovative internal audit consulting and training firm. Elizabeth is passionate about advancing and advocating for the internal audit profession and was recognized as one of the 2023 Internal Audit Beacons by Richard Chambers. Elizabeth makes auditing and training fun (no, really!) with the help of her mascot, Audie the Internal Otteror. Elizabeth’s most recent industry experience was at Achieve, where she was Sr. Director, Audit Strategy; prior to that, she held internal audit leadership roles at Elevations Credit Union, Fidelity Investments, and Xcel Energy after first starting her career at Ernst & Young.
