Spending money is easy to audit. Spending it well is a different question entirely—and that is exactly what a Value for Money (VFM) audit is built to answer. This training course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy equips auditors to judge whether an organisation is run economically, efficiently and effectively, strengthening the internal audit function in the process.

VFM audits have traditionally been a public-sector discipline, tied to how internal audit tracks management's progress toward strategic objectives, but private organisations are adopting them fast—while few auditors have real hands-on experience running one. This practice-based course closes that gap by pulling the common elements of VFM audit review into a single, coherent framework.

Attendees learn to appraise organisational performance, check compliance with financial regulations, and spot savings and efficiency opportunities. By the end, they can plan a risk-based VFM audit, execute it, and write audit reports persuasive enough to actually shape corporate policy and decision-making.

Course Objectives

• Conduct comprehensive Value for Money (VFM) audits and identify the key elements of a joint-interest audit.
• Develop and apply a risk-based approach to auditing.
• Produce detailed, impactful VFM audit reports.
• Understand best practice in investigating fraud.

Who Should Attend?

• Auditors and auditing managers, and accounting executives and managers.
• Financial reporting managers, financial executives, controllers and directors.
• Budgeting and cost-control officers, executives and managers, and treasurers.
• Taxation, joint-venture and production-sharing executives, managers and advisors.
• Business investment analysts, regulatory compliance officers and commercial analysts.

Module 1: The Case for Value for Money Auditing

• Why organisations increasingly need VFM audits: organisational drivers and objectives
• Concept and role of VFM audit in achieving organisational goals, and its pillars
• Common challenges, and the role of the VFM auditor

Module 2: The Broader Audit Function as a Foundation

• Purpose and types of audit, and roles and procedures within the internal audit department
• Audit preparation, planning, testing and sampling
• Communicating audit findings and reviews

Module 3: Planning a Risk-Based VFM Audit

• Procedures of VFM audit and a risk-based model framework
• Key steps in the VFM auditing cycle, and special planning considerations
• Linking VFM audit to KPIs, and obstacles to conducting VFM audits

Module 4: Running the Audit: Data, Collaboration and Controls

• Conducting the VFM audit and collaborating with stakeholders during the process
• Setting and assigning VFM audit metrics, and the data-collection process
• Analysing data, extracting conclusions, and management controls in VFM audit

Module 5: Reporting Results and Proving Impact

• Documenting the VFM audit and assuring the quality of results
• Producing, distributing and measuring the impact of VFM audit reports
• Case study and discussion