Interpreting financial reports
Retiring 29 March 2024. Those registering up to that day will have access for 90 days.
Organisations publish financial reports to communicate their performance, financial strength and liquidity to a range of stakeholders. Although external auditors confirm the veracity of financial statements, it is important that you, as an internal auditor, can interpret these statements so that you are able to use the information intelligently in your audit work.
The course introduces you to the statement of financial performance (income statements), the statement of financial position, cash flow statements, and annual reports.
There are differences between the financial reports of public companies, public sector organisations and charities, but many aspects are similar. Small UK organisations use UK specific accounting standards but many of the rules which guide presentation is similar to those of international accounting standards. We will primarily use the international accounting standards in this course, but we will occasionally reference UK standards.
Who should do the course?
The course is aimed at internal auditors with little or no understanding of financial reports and their use in internal audit work. You will find this course useful if you are:
- an internal auditor who wants to understand how to use and interpret financial reports in engagements, or
- a senior internal auditor who wants to understand how financial reports can be used in audit work.
What will I learn?
After completing this course you will be able to:
- describe the purpose and contents of the statement of financial performance and the statement of financial position;
- use analysis of the two statements in internal audit work;
- interpret cash flow statements and use this analysis in internal audit work; and
- explain the purpose and contents of an annual report.
What will I do?
The course consists of learning material, two interactive mind maps and a quiz. You will be recorded as having completed the course when you have worked through the learning material and achieved 80% on the quiz. You can download your certificate of completion and a course summary when you have successfully completed the course.
You have 90 days to complete the course; however, it shouldn’t take you more than three hours to do so.
Should you have any difficulties in booking an online training course, please log off the website and only log on when prompted.
After booking a course, please take the following steps to access it:
- Log into iia.org.uk and go to https://www.iia.org.uk/students/study-system/
- Click on the blue button that says ‘Access the study system here’ to access your personalised study system dashboard where you will see the course(s) you have purchased.
- If it is your first time using the study system, you will need to enter your email address on your profile page to activate access.
Technical requirements
The course is wholly online so you will need access to an internet-enabled device.
Important information
Access to our course content will be made available for 90 days from the date of purchase. After successfully completing a course, you’ll be able to download the relevant course summary to keep and refer to in the future. You will also receive a CPE certificate for your records.
Should you have any difficulties in booking an online training course, please log off the website and only log on when prompted.
After booking a course, please take the following steps to access it:
- Log into iia.org.uk and go to https://www.iia.org.uk/students/study-system/
- Click on the blue button that says ‘Access the study system here’ to access your personalised study system dashboard where you will see the course(s) you have purchased.
- If it is your first time using the study system, you will need to enter your email address on your profile page to activate access.
CPE competency areas covered
- Performance (engagement fieldwork)
- Environment (accounting and finance)
3 CPE points
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