Dates : 30 June 2026
The training is 1 day from 09:00 to 17:00
Language : English
CPE Points : 7
Deadline to register : 18 June 2026
Trainer name: James Paterson
Type of session (Online training/ In-Person Training / Webinar): Online training

Overview

Boards, regulators and the media increasingly rely on internal audit ratings and opinions to judge risk, resilience and culture. This session helps you modernise your approach, so your ratings are clear, well-calibrated and defensible – even after a crisis or external review.

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

• Respond to rising regulatory expectations around assurance, resilience and customer outcomes.
• Avoid inconsistent or weakly supported ratings that can undermine internal audit’s credibility.
• Strengthen overall opinions so they reflect today’s complex, interconnected risk landscape.

Who should attend?

• CAEs responsible for annual opinions and assurance frameworks.
• Audit managers who own rating scales, methodology and quality review.
• Senior auditors who draft reports and need to explain ratings clearly and confidently.

Course description

1. Modernise your rating process by 

• • Designing ratings that clearly address different risk categories (e.g. strategic, operational, conduct, financial and technology risk). 

  • Aligning your ratings approach with advanced maturity and assurance frameworks already used in your organisation.

  • Incorporating risk culture, risk appetite and operational resilience factors explicitly into your ratings.

  • Leveraging AI and data‑driven techniques to drive consistency, identify outliers and pressure‑test ratings and opinions.

 2. Master the art of forming robust audit opinions that 

• • Stand up to potential regulatory, board and external challenge.

  • Aggregate findings and themes across processes, entities and audits in a coherent way.

  • Address emerging risks in areas such as operational resilience, cyber security, third‑party risk and conduct.

  • Clearly set out the level of assurance, key limitations and residual uncertainty without diluting impact.

3. Build a comprehensive approach to overall opinions by 

• • Drawing on diverse sources of evidence beyond traditional audit work (e.g. incidents, risk reports, assurance mapping, external reviews).

  • Communicating scope and limitations transparently while keeping messages clear and compelling.

  • Benchmarking against peer insights and external assessments to calibrate your approach and identify improvement opportunities.

Trainer bio

James Paterson, Director RiskAI

Former CAE / Head of Internal Audit, offering in-house and open training, workshops and consulting since 2010. Author of the book Lean Auditing, looking at lean/agile ways of working in internal audit. Delivery of internal auditing courses for the IIA Belgium, IIA Bulgaria, IIA Finland, IIA Estonia, IIA France, IIA Latvia, IIA Lithuania, IIA Luxembourg, IIA Norway, IIA Sweden, IIA Switzerland, IIA Spain, IIA UK. Audit Leadership course for MIS training. Key areas of expertise: RISK ASSURANCE - Assurance Mapping & co-ordination, Auditing Culture; LEAN & AGILE INTERNAL AUDIT - Driving value add, insight and productivity in internal audit; AUDIT TEAM EFFECTIVENESS & DEVELOPMENT - Root cause analysis for internal audit / Preparing for an External Quality Review (EQA) / Internal Auditing in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech companies, high performing teams for internal audit.