Course Information
Why Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking Skills are Essential for Audit
Course Description
High EQ (Emotional Intelligence) individuals are more successful. Critical Thinking improves complex problem-solving skills. Unlike IQ, we can work to improve both!
Critical Thinking skills enable auditors to understand complex issues, problem solve and understand different points of view from audit clients and business partners. Emotional Intelligence helps us remove common barriers and effectively communicate to audit clients and colleagues.
This course explains the basic concepts for both critical thinking and emotional intelligence, why we need both in audit, and techniques that can be immediately implemented. This activity packed course will leave you with new ideas and techniques to immediately improve your thinking and relationship building skills both personally and professionally.
This course utilizes the DiSC Assessment to evaluate participants’ communications styles.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
• Understand what emotional intelligence is and how it helps or hurts us
• Learn strategies to improve emotional intelligence
• Understand the levels of thinking and what constitutes critical thinking
• Discover methods to increase critical thinking and ways to identify when you are not thinking critically
• Examine the ways emotional intelligence and critical thinking improve communication
Emotional Intelligence
• What is Emotional Intelligence?
• IQ / EQ / Personality
• Four skills of Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence Scale
• Emotional Intelligence Strategies
Communication Styles
• Types of Communication
• How style type impacts presenting and receiving messages
• Styles, behaviors and preferences
• Identifying behaviors and working with varying behaviors
DiSC Assessments
• Styles of Communication
• Receiving Messages from different communication styles
• Delivering Messages to different communication styles
Critical Thinking
• What is Critical Thinking
• Critical thinking levels and characteristics
• Biases, fallacies and inferences
• Intellectual thinking traits and standards
Barriers to Critical Thinking
• Fallacies
• Inferences
• Biases
• Assumptions
• Egocentric thinking
• Sociocentric thinking (Group Think)
Reasoning and Professional Judgment
• The reasoning cycle
• What is professional judgment?
• Applying professional judgment to the audit process
• Professional Judgment Framework
• Developing/strengthening professional judgment
Asking Essential Questions
• Analytic questions
• Evaluative questions
• Questioning for self-knowledge
• Questioning systematically
• Socratic questioning
Analytical Thinking
• Basic Theory of Analysis
• Getting started
• Analysis and logic
• Taking understanding to a deeper level
• Solving Problems
Challenges
• Difficult people and situations
• Conflict situations
• Audit findings
• Thinking on your feet
Instructors
Mary Breslin is the Founder of Verracy Training & Consulting and specializes in Internal Audit transformations, Operational and Financial Auditing, Fraud Auditing & Investigations, and Corporate Accounting.
Ms. Breslin’s career spans over 20 years in Internal Auditing, Management and Accounting for companies such as ConocoPhillips, Barclays Capital, Costco Wholesale, Jefferson Wells and Boart Longyear. With significant International experience, she has managed audit programs in more than 50 countries. Most recently, Ms. Breslin held the title of Vice President and Chief Audit Executive where she transformed a checklist audit function into a value-add audit department which regularly delivered measurable business results through the use of risk-based auditing, data analytics, continuous education and skill development for her leadership team and staff.
Mary was an early adopter of analytics for audit and has been utilizing data analytics in her career in both audit and fraud work for over 15 years. She has transformed the capabilities of audit functions using data analytics programs using ACL, IDEA and Arbutus Analyzer. Through her expertise and guidance, she has helped large global organizations leverage analytics to significantly increase coverage, automate continuous auditing and monitoring, and actively fight fraud.
Additionally, Ms. Breslin has extensive Fraud Audit and Investigation experience and has conducted major fraud investigations on multiple continents including large scale federal cases domestically. She has developed and implemented fraud auditing programs in various industries focused on both accounting and operations.
Ms. Breslin attended Rutgers University and received her BS in accounting, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix while living and working overseas. She is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). She maintains memberships in the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), ISACA, the Society of Corporate Compliance (SCCE), and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and is currently an instructor and conference speaker for the IIA, The ACFE and ISACA.
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.
The course coordinator will contact you with parking information. Handicapped parking is free at the meters around the downtown area.
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.