Operationalizing the operational audit course

Discusses the importance of operational auditing and the crucial role of internal control in the audit process, providing a brief history of the beginnings of operational auditing and describing the recent report issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) which provides a widely accepted definition of internal control. Continues to review ways of gearing an internal audit course towards operational auditing, beginning with a description of basic methods of exposing students to operational auditing: including audit reports; interaction with practitioners; and ending with an outline of how students should actually perform an operational audit.