Course Information
Having Difficult Conversations with Audit Clients
Parking for SAO, Professional Development courses is in Garage B (1511 San Jacinto Blvd.). The Garage signage may read 1511 San Jacinto or Garage B. The elevator in Garage B is not reliable. If you are unable to walk the stairs, please contact the professionaldevelopment@sao.texas.gov for alternate parking arrangements. Handicapped parking is free at the meters around the downtown area.
A course coordinator will Email you a parking permit prior to the course start date. A permit must be displayed or you will be ticketed.
Course Description
From having to tell clients about a fraud, to hearing them disagree about an issue, to apologizing because we were wrong; as auditors, we often find ourselves in unpleasant conversations. But it is not always the client's fault.
Knowing how to handle difficult conversations such as:
? Giving feedback on processes and controls
? Delivering bad news controls are broken
? Apologizing when we make mistakes is critical in developing and maintaining relationships with audit clients.
In this session, we’ll discuss how to
? Control the flow of a potentially difficult conversations
? Analyze behaviors to better understand why we react the way we do
? Appreciate the power of emotions and use them to your advantage
? Prepare for and deliver bad news using a systematic technique
? Apologize to show your sincerity
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
? Discover the power of emotions in conversations
? Identify strategies that help with difficult conversations
? Explore how to deliver bad news to audit clients
? Recognize when to apologize and how to do it
? Develop a process to have difficult conversations
Prerequisites
No prerequisites required.
Instructors
Robert Berry is an international speaker/presenter/trainer focusing on risk management, internal auditing and soft skills. He is a frequent and highly rated speaker / trainer at many industry conferences.
Robert is also a writer / author. He has penned more than 100 articles on risk, audit and compliance on his company’s blog and for multiple industry publications.
His company, That Audit Guy LLC, focuses on training individuals in person, live virtually and through on demand courses. Robert has several private clients and also delivers training directly to consumers.
He has written two books directly related to internal auditing. Ask, Get, Perform: The Auditors Essential Guide to Asking Better Questions, Getting Better Answers, and Performing Better Audits broke the top 50 on Amazon in the US and hit #1 in France. His other book, Creating Wonderful Workpapers: The Auditor's Essential Guide to Delivering Good Documentation, is highly recommended on Amazon.
Robert is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Information Systems Auditor, Six Sigma Greenbelt and a Certified Virtual Presenter.
Additional Information
TAC Rule 523.142(g) requires the CPE Sponsor to monitor individual attendance and assign the correct number of CPE credits. Participants will be asked to document their time of arrival and departure in compliance with this Rule. Additionally, attendance will be monitored throughout the day and CPE certificates will reflect actual attendance of each participant.
If you are making travel plans to come to Austin, we recommend making "refundable" air and hotel reservations or waiting until 14 days before the class to actually book your reservations. Courses are occasionally canceled or rescheduled due to low enrollment. We determine whether a course has enough participants 16 days prior to the course date. If we cancel or reschedule, we will email the participant and his or her billing contact no later than 14 days before the original class date.
Vending machines with Coca-Cola products and various snack items are available. There is also a refrigerator and microwave in our coffee bar area. Feel free to bring in your own drinks and food if you prefer.
You might want to bring a light sweater or jacket, as room temperatures vary.
To see answers to our Frequently Asked Questions, visit http://www.sao.texas.gov/training/faq.html.