About This Course
The International Standards on Auditing represent the global benchmark for audit quality, professional scepticism, and assurance practice. Adopted or closely mirrored by regulators and professional bodies across more than 120 jurisdictions, the ISAs define not only what auditors must do but how they must think — instilling a disciplined, evidence-based approach to every engagement. For organisations and audit firms operating across borders, fluency in the ISAs is no longer optional; it is a fundamental professional requirement.
TrainingComplex's ISA Training programme offers a structured, five-day deep-dive into the complete suite of International Standards on Auditing. The course is organised around the logical flow of an audit engagement — from accepting a new client and agreeing the terms of engagement, through planning, risk assessment, and audit evidence, to concluding procedures, forming an opinion, and communicating results to stakeholders. Each standard is contextualised through practical case studies, group exercises, and working-paper templates drawn from real-world audit environments.
Participants will leave with a clear, confident understanding of how each ISA interacts with the others, where common compliance failures occur, and how to apply professional judgement in areas of ambiguity. The programme is equally valuable whether delegates are preparing for their first external audit, seeking to refresh and formalise their ISA knowledge, or transitioning from a national auditing framework to the international standards. Facilitators are experienced audit practitioners who combine technical rigour with an accessible, solutions-focused teaching style.
Who Should Attend
- External auditors and audit seniors in public accounting firms
- Internal auditors seeking alignment with international external audit standards
- Finance managers and controllers who liaise closely with external audit teams
- Public sector auditors transitioning to ISA-compliant frameworks
- Audit quality reviewers and technical partners
- Compliance and risk officers with assurance responsibilities
- Recent accounting graduates preparing for professional qualification examinations
- NGO and donor-funded organisation finance staff subject to ISA-based audits
Learning Objectives
- Explain the structure, authority, and interrelationship of the IAASB's International Standards on Auditing
- Apply ISA 210 and ISA 220 to establish and document client acceptance, engagement terms, and quality control obligations
- Conduct a comprehensive audit risk assessment in line with ISA 315 (Revised) and ISA 330, identifying and responding to risks of material misstatement
- Design and evaluate audit sampling strategies consistent with ISA 530
- Gather, evaluate, and document sufficient appropriate audit evidence in accordance with ISA 500-series standards
- Apply ISA 540 (Revised) to audit accounting estimates and management judgements
- Perform going-concern assessments under ISA 570 and evaluate subsequent events per ISA 560
- Review and evaluate the work of component auditors and experts under ISA 600 and ISA 620
- Formulate appropriate audit opinions and draft audit reports that comply with ISA 700-series requirements, including modified opinions and emphasis-of-matter paragraphs
- Recognise and respond to fraud risk indicators in line with ISA 240 and communicate findings to those charged with governance per ISA 260 and ISA 265
Course Modules
Module 1: The ISA Framework: Structure, Authority, and the IAASB
- Role and mandate of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
- Hierarchy of IAASB pronouncements: ISAs, ISREs, ISAEs, ISRSs, and ISQM
- Conceptual framework for assurance engagements and the nature of audit opinions
- Fundamental principles of an audit: independence, professional scepticism, and professional judgement
- Adoption, adaptation, and equivalence — how jurisdictions incorporate ISAs
- Interrelationship between the ISAs and the IESBA Code of Ethics
Module 2: Client Acceptance, Continuance, and Engagement Terms (ISA 210, ISA 220, ISQM 1)
- Client acceptance and continuance evaluation criteria and decision documentation
- Preconditions for an audit: management's responsibilities and the applicable financial reporting framework
- Engagement letters: mandatory content, tailoring, and updating procedures
- Quality management at the engagement level under ISQM 1 and ISA 220 (Revised)
- Engagement partner responsibilities and supervision obligations
- Documenting acceptance and continuance conclusions in the permanent file
Module 3: Audit Planning and Materiality (ISA 300, ISA 320, ISA 450)
- Developing the overall audit strategy and detailed audit plan
- Setting overall materiality, performance materiality, and specific materiality thresholds
- Documenting materiality judgements and their impact on audit scope
- Changes to materiality during the engagement and implications for planned procedures
- Evaluating uncorrected misstatements and the clearly trivial threshold under ISA 450
- Communicating materiality decisions to engagement teams and component auditors
Module 4: Understanding the Entity and Risk Assessment (ISA 315 Revised)
- The ISA 315 (Revised 2019) risk assessment model: inherent risk, control risk, and the spectrum of inherent risk
- Understanding the entity: business model, industry, objectives, strategies, and related risks
- Understanding internal control: the five components and their relevance to the audit
- Identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement at the financial statement and assertion levels
- Significant risks: identification criteria and required audit responses
- Documenting risk assessment results: risk registers, entity understanding narratives, and process walk-throughs
Module 5: Responses to Assessed Risks and Audit Evidence (ISA 330, ISA 500)
- Designing overall responses to financial statement-level risks
- Linking assessed risks at assertion level to specific further audit procedures
- Substantive procedures versus tests of controls: selecting the appropriate mix
- The nature, timing, and extent of audit procedures and how each dimension responds to risk
- Defining and applying the characteristics of sufficient appropriate audit evidence
- Documenting the linkage between risk assessment and audit programme in the working papers
Module 6: Fraud, Laws, and Regulations (ISA 240, ISA 250)
- Auditor responsibilities regarding fraud under ISA 240: detection versus prevention
- Fraud risk factors: incentives, opportunities, and rationalisations (the fraud triangle)
- Mandatory engagement team discussion on fraud risk and its documentation
- Designing and performing audit procedures responsive to fraud risk, including management override
- Auditor responsibilities regarding non-compliance with laws and regulations under ISA 250
- Reporting fraud and non-compliance to management, those charged with governance, and external authorities
Module 7: Audit Sampling and Analytical Procedures (ISA 520, ISA 530)
- Distinguishing audit sampling from other means of selecting items for testing
- Statistical versus non-statistical sampling: design choices and documentation
- Determining sample size: tolerable error, expected error, and confidence level considerations
- Evaluating sample results and projecting misstatements to the population
- Substantive analytical procedures: developing precise expectations and investigating significant fluctuations
- Final analytical procedures under ISA 520 as an overall review at the conclusion of the audit
Module 8: Specific Audit Areas: Estimates, Going Concern, and Related Parties (ISA 540, ISA 550, ISA 570)
- Auditing accounting estimates under ISA 540 (Revised): the risk-based approach and management's estimation process
- Evaluating estimation uncertainty and identifying indicators of possible management bias
- Identifying and assessing risks arising from related-party relationships and transactions under ISA 550
- Obtaining evidence about the completeness of related-party disclosures
- Going-concern assessment under ISA 570: auditor obligations and management's evaluation
- Audit procedures when going-concern doubt exists and implications for the audit report
Module 9: Using the Work of Others (ISA 600, ISA 610, ISA 620)
- Group audits under ISA 600 (Revised): defining the group, components, and component auditors
- Group engagement team responsibilities: instructions, review, and communication with component auditors
- Using the work of internal auditors under ISA 610: direct assistance and evaluating the function's objectivity and competence
- Using the work of an auditor's expert under ISA 620: engagement, instructions, and evaluation of findings
- Relying on management's experts: additional scrutiny and evidence considerations
- Documenting the use of others' work and conclusions in the group or engagement file
Module 10: Audit Conclusions and Reporting (ISA 560, ISA 580, ISA 700–710, ISA 720)
- Subsequent events: identifying and evaluating events between the reporting date and the auditor's report date under ISA 560
- Written representations under ISA 580: purpose, content, and actions when representations are withheld
- Forming the audit opinion under ISA 700 (Revised): evaluating whether financial statements are free from material misstatement
- Structure and content of the auditor's report: key audit matters, emphasis of matter, and other matter paragraphs
- Modified opinions under ISA 705: qualifications, adverse opinions, and disclaimers — selecting and drafting the correct form
- Comparative information under ISA 710 and the auditor's responsibilities regarding other information in annual reports under ISA 720
Requirements & Prerequisites
Participants should have a foundational understanding of accounting principles and financial statement preparation. Prior exposure to auditing concepts — whether through formal study, professional qualifications such as ACCA, CPA, or CA, or practical work experience — is strongly recommended. No specific software skills are required, as the course focuses on standards application and professional judgement rather than audit technology tools.
Training Methodology
- Annotated ISA walk-throughs in which facilitators map each standard's requirements to practical audit steps and working-paper sections
- Case-study audit simulations using realistic financial statements, management letters, and audit files drawn from manufacturing, NGO, and public sector contexts
- Small-group risk assessment workshops where participants identify and respond to risks of material misstatement using the ISA 315 risk matrix
- Audit programme design exercises requiring delegates to build tailored, risk-responsive audit procedures for selected balance sheet and income statement areas
- Modified audit opinion drafting labs in which groups analyse given scenarios and craft compliant qualified, adverse, or disclaimer opinions
- Peer-review role plays replicating engagement quality control reviews under ISA 220, with participants acting as both preparer and reviewer
- Fraud brainstorming sessions structured around ISA 240's requirement for mandatory team discussions on fraud risk
- Guided reflection journals prompting delegates to map each day's ISA content to live engagements or recent audit experiences from their own practice
Organisational Benefits
- Audit engagements conducted to a consistent, internationally recognised standard, reducing regulatory and reputational risk
- Strengthened audit quality and reduced findings during external quality inspections or peer reviews
- Improved working-paper discipline and documentation practices across audit teams
- Greater efficiency in audit planning through sharper risk identification and more targeted audit programmes
- Enhanced ability to attract international clients and cross-border engagements that require ISA compliance
- Better-informed client relationships as audit teams communicate findings and obligations more clearly to management and boards
- Reduced exposure to professional liability through rigorous adherence to evidence and opinion-formation standards
- A pipeline of technically competent auditors capable of leading engagements independently
Where Is International Standards on Auditing (ISA) Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Zanzibar, Cape Town, Kigali, Nakuru, Mombasa, Lagos, Nairobi, Riyadh, Abuja, Dubai, Accra, Naivasha, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Kisumu, Arusha, Pretoria, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
|---|
| Live Virtual |
Online |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 80,000 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
24 Oct 2026 – 15 Nov 2026 |
KES 80,000 |
| Zanzibar, Tanzania |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,500 |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Kigali, Rwanda |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
| Nakuru, Kenya |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Mombasa, Kenya |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Lagos, Nigeria |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,500 |
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
KES 115,000 |
| Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,500 |
| Abuja, Nigeria |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,800 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,100 |
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
2 Nov 2026 – 6 Nov 2026 |
KES 105,000 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
In-Person |
2 Nov 2026 – 6 Nov 2026 |
USD 4,100 |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
In-Person |
2 Nov 2026 – 6 Nov 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
+228 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a qualified accountant to attend this course?
You do not need to hold a formal accounting qualification, but participants should have a working knowledge of financial statements and basic auditing concepts. The course is most beneficial for those who are actively involved in audit engagements or preparing for professional exams that include ISA content.
Which version of ISA 315 does the course cover?
The programme covers ISA 315 (Revised 2019), which introduced significant changes to the risk assessment model including the spectrum of inherent risk and enhanced documentation requirements. Where other recently revised standards apply — such as ISA 540 (Revised) and ISA 220 (Revised) — the course reflects the latest effective versions.
Will I receive a certificate on completion?
Yes. Delegates who attend all sessions and complete the practical exercises will receive a TrainingComplex Certificate of Completion in International Standards on Auditing. The certificate includes the programme title, duration, and dates, making it suitable for CPD portfolios and professional body submissions.
Is the course applicable to both external and internal auditors?
Yes, though the primary focus is on external audit engagements as governed by the ISAs. Internal auditors will find the content highly relevant for understanding what their external counterparts require, aligning internal audit processes with ISA expectations, and preparing for engagements where the organisation is subject to ISA-based statutory audits.
Can my organisation send a team and have the training customised to our specific sector?
Absolutely. TrainingComplex offers in-house delivery for teams of six or more, with case studies and examples tailored to your sector — whether financial services, public sector, manufacturing, or NGOs. Contact us to discuss a customised programme that aligns with your firm's audit methodology and current quality improvement priorities.
