ERP Systems and Enterprise Applications Auditing Training Course

Course Introduction

The ERP Systems and Enterprise Applications Auditing Training Course provides a comprehensive framework for auditing enterprise resource planning platforms and integrated business applications that support finance, procurement, human resources, supply chain, sales, operations, asset management, and other critical organisational processes. Participants develop the knowledge required to evaluate governance, application controls, data integrity, access management, configuration, interfaces, system changes, and operational risks within complex enterprise application environments.

Modern organisations increasingly depend on ERP platforms to integrate financial and operational information across departments, subsidiaries, locations, and external service providers. This course examines how auditors can assess whether these integrated environments are properly governed, securely configured, effectively controlled, and aligned with business objectives. Emphasis is placed on understanding business processes within ERP systems and translating technology risks into meaningful audit findings, control assessments, and actionable recommendations.

Participants will explore audit methodologies for major ERP components, including general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, procurement, inventory, payroll, fixed assets, budgeting, project management, sales, and supply chain functions. The programme addresses both preventive and detective controls, with detailed consideration of automated controls, workflow approvals, segregation of duties, master data governance, transaction processing, reconciliations, exception handling, and system-generated reporting. Practical audit approaches are designed to help participants identify control weaknesses that may otherwise remain hidden within highly integrated application environments.

The course also addresses the increasing complexity created by cloud ERP, software-as-a-service platforms, application programming interfaces, mobile applications, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, analytics, and third-party integrations. Participants learn how these technologies affect audit scope, evidence collection, control testing, risk assessment, and continuous assurance. Emerging technology risks are incorporated throughout the programme so that auditors can evaluate modern enterprise application environments rather than relying solely on traditional application-control techniques.

A strong emphasis is placed on evidence-based auditing and data-driven assurance. Participants will learn how to obtain and evaluate system configurations, user access listings, audit trails, workflow records, master data, transaction populations, exception reports, interface logs, change records, and other electronic evidence. The course demonstrates how data analytics can be used to identify unusual transactions, duplicate payments, unauthorised changes, segregation-of-duties conflicts, unusual master-data activity, dormant accounts, abnormal approvals, and other indicators of control failure or potential fraud.

By the end of the programme, participants will be better equipped to plan, execute, document, report, and follow up ERP and enterprise application audits using a structured risk-based approach. They will understand how to connect technical observations with financial, operational, compliance, and business risks, communicate findings effectively to management and technology stakeholders, and develop practical recommendations that strengthen application controls, improve data reliability, enhance governance, and support sustainable assurance over critical enterprise systems.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Internal auditors responsible for auditing ERP platforms and integrated enterprise applications across business functions.

• IT auditors evaluating application controls, system configurations, access management, and technology-enabled business processes.

• Information systems auditors seeking advanced knowledge of ERP governance, controls, testing, and assurance techniques.

• Finance and accounting professionals involved in auditing automated financial processes and ERP-enabled reporting environments.

• Risk and compliance professionals assessing technology-related business, financial, operational, and regulatory risks.

• Enterprise application managers responsible for maintaining effective controls within ERP and business application environments.

• ERP administrators and functional specialists seeking a stronger understanding of audit requirements and control expectations.

• Internal control professionals designing, evaluating, or testing automated and application-level controls.

• Information security professionals assessing identity, access, configuration, logging, and security controls within enterprise applications.

• External auditors examining ERP-dependent financial reporting processes and technology-enabled control environments.

• Compliance officers responsible for evaluating application controls against organisational policies and regulatory requirements.

• Finance transformation, digital transformation, and business process professionals supporting ERP implementation and optimisation initiatives.

• Fraud risk professionals using ERP data, audit trails, and transaction analytics to identify potential control abuse and suspicious activity.

• Audit managers and assurance leaders responsible for developing ERP audit strategies and communicating technology-related findings to senior management.

Course Objectives

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of ERP architectures, enterprise application environments, integrated business processes, and the control considerations auditors must address when evaluating these systems.

• Apply risk-based audit planning techniques to identify financial, operational, technology, compliance, cybersecurity, data integrity, and fraud risks associated with ERP and enterprise applications.

• Evaluate IT general controls and application controls that support the reliability, security, completeness, accuracy, validity, and authorised processing of enterprise application transactions.

• Assess user access, identity management, privileged access, segregation of duties, role design, approval workflows, and access recertification processes within complex ERP environments.

• Examine configuration settings, automated controls, workflow rules, system parameters, master data, and business rules to determine whether enterprise applications operate as intended.

• Audit key ERP-enabled processes including procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, record-to-report, payroll, inventory, fixed assets, budgeting, and other financially or operationally significant business cycles.

• Apply data analytics techniques to large ERP transaction populations to identify anomalies, duplicate transactions, unusual patterns, control exceptions, master-data risks, and potential indicators of fraud.

• Evaluate interfaces, integrations, APIs, data transfers, reconciliations, batch processing, and other mechanisms that affect the completeness and integrity of information moving between enterprise applications.

• Assess ERP change management, systems development, testing, migration, patching, release management, and configuration governance controls throughout the application lifecycle.

• Evaluate cloud ERP, SaaS applications, third-party integrations, mobile enterprise applications, automation technologies, and emerging AI-enabled functionality from an audit and assurance perspective.

• Develop high-quality audit evidence, working papers, findings, risk assessments, recommendations, and management reports that clearly communicate ERP control deficiencies and their business implications.

• Strengthen continuous assurance capabilities by integrating ERP analytics, automated monitoring, exception reporting, audit trails, and technology-enabled testing into sustainable enterprise application audit programmes.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of ERP Systems and Enterprise Applications Auditing

• ERP architectures, enterprise application ecosystems, integrated business processes, and the auditor’s role in providing technology-enabled assurance.

• Key ERP modules, functional components, business process integration points, transaction flows, and dependencies across organisational functions.

• ERP audit objectives, scope definition, risk considerations, assurance expectations, and approaches for auditing highly integrated application environments.

• Common ERP control failures, application risks, audit challenges, evidence considerations, and lessons from complex enterprise system environments.

Module 2: ERP Governance, Risk Management and Control Frameworks

• ERP governance structures, accountability models, management oversight, system ownership, control responsibilities, and assurance coordination.

• Technology risk frameworks, internal control principles, enterprise risk management, and application governance considerations for ERP environments.

• ERP policies, procedures, standards, control documentation, governance committees, and management reporting requirements.

• Aligning ERP controls with organisational objectives, risk appetite, financial accountability, operational resilience, and compliance obligations.

Module 3: ERP Audit Risk Assessment and Engagement Planning

• Identifying ERP-related financial, operational, compliance, cybersecurity, data, fraud, and business continuity risks through structured risk assessment.

• Developing ERP audit universes, process inventories, application dependency maps, risk-based scopes, audit objectives, and engagement strategies.

• Assessing inherent risk, control risk, residual risk, system criticality, transaction volumes, and business impact when prioritising ERP audit work.

• Designing audit programmes, resource plans, timelines, evidence requirements, stakeholder responsibilities, and testing strategies for complex ERP engagements.

Module 4: ERP IT General Controls and Application Control Foundations

• Relationship between IT general controls, application controls, automated controls, manual controls, and the reliability of ERP-enabled business processes.

• Evaluating control design, implementation, operating effectiveness, control ownership, frequency, evidence generation, and monitoring mechanisms.

• Identifying dependencies between infrastructure, databases, applications, interfaces, security controls, and business process controls.

• Developing integrated control matrices that connect ERP risks, control objectives, key controls, testing procedures, evidence, and audit conclusions.

Module 5: ERP Access Management and Segregation of Duties

• User provisioning, authentication, role assignment, access approval, periodic review, termination controls, and identity lifecycle management.

• Privileged access, emergency access, administrator accounts, technical users, service accounts, and monitoring of elevated ERP permissions.

• Segregation-of-duties conflicts, toxic combinations, compensating controls, role design, access-risk analysis, and exception management.

• Continuous access monitoring, automated SoD analysis, access recertification, dormant accounts, excessive privileges, and emerging identity risks.

Module 6: ERP Configuration and Automated Controls Auditing

• Auditing application configuration parameters, business rules, approval hierarchies, tolerance limits, validation rules, and automated processing controls.

• Evaluating configuration governance, parameter changes, control dependencies, default settings, system overrides, and unauthorised configuration modifications.

• Testing automated controls for completeness, accuracy, validity, authorisation, exception handling, and consistent execution across transaction populations.

• Assessing configuration risks within standardised, customised, multi-entity, multi-currency, and multi-location ERP environments.

Module 7: Financial ERP Processes and Application Controls

• Auditing general ledger, journal processing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, financial close, reconciliations, and financial reporting controls.

• Evaluating procure-to-pay controls covering requisitions, purchase orders, goods receipt, invoice matching, approvals, payments, and vendor master data.

• Assessing order-to-cash processes including sales orders, delivery, invoicing, receivables, collections, credit controls, and revenue-related application risks.

• Testing automated financial controls, journal workflows, period controls, account mappings, exception reports, and system-generated financial information.

Module 8: Operational ERP Modules and Business Process Auditing

• Auditing inventory management, warehouse transactions, stock movements, valuation, adjustments, obsolete inventory, and automated inventory controls.

• Evaluating fixed asset acquisition, capitalisation, depreciation, transfers, disposals, impairment indicators, and asset master-data controls.

• Assessing payroll, human resources, time management, employee master data, compensation processing, and interfaces between HR and finance applications.

• Auditing budgeting, project management, expense management, production, maintenance, and other operational ERP modules according to organisational risk.

Module 9: ERP Master Data, Data Integrity and Information Quality

• Master data governance covering customers, suppliers, employees, materials, chart of accounts, assets, pricing, banking information, and other critical ERP data.

• Data completeness, accuracy, validity, consistency, uniqueness, timeliness, ownership, approval, and controlled maintenance within enterprise applications.

• Auditing master-data creation, amendments, duplicate records, inactive records, unusual changes, sensitive fields, and unauthorised maintenance activity.

• Data migration, conversion, reconciliation, interface integrity, historical data quality, and controls supporting reliable enterprise information.

Module 10: ERP Interfaces, Integration and Reconciliation Controls

• Auditing interfaces between ERP modules, external applications, payment platforms, banking systems, payroll systems, warehouses, and third-party solutions.

• Evaluating API controls, batch processing, middleware, integration monitoring, error handling, transmission completeness, and failed-transaction management.

• Testing automated reconciliations, control totals, interface reports, exception queues, duplicate prevention, and end-to-end transaction integrity.

• Assessing integration dependencies, real-time processing, event-driven architectures, and risks created by increasingly interconnected enterprise application ecosystems.

Module 11: ERP Change Management, Implementation and System Development Auditing

• Auditing ERP implementation projects, system upgrades, configuration changes, custom development, testing, approvals, migration, and production deployment.

• Evaluating change requests, development environments, test evidence, segregation of duties, release controls, emergency changes, and post-implementation reviews.

• Assessing data migration controls, user acceptance testing, parallel processing, reconciliation, cutover planning, and business continuity during ERP transformation.

• Auditing agile delivery, DevOps-enabled enterprise applications, continuous releases, automated deployment pipelines, and modern change governance practices.

Module 12: ERP Cybersecurity, Logging and Operational Resilience

• Evaluating ERP security architecture, authentication, encryption, logging, monitoring, vulnerability management, secure configuration, and security event controls.

• Auditing audit trails, transaction logs, administrative activity, privileged-user monitoring, exception logs, and evidence supporting accountability.

• Assessing ERP backup, recovery, high availability, disaster recovery, incident response, business continuity, and resilience of critical application services.

• Addressing ransomware, credential compromise, application abuse, supply chain threats, insider risks, and other cybersecurity exposures affecting enterprise applications.

Module 13: ERP Data Analytics, Continuous Auditing and Fraud Detection

• Designing ERP audit analytics to examine complete transaction populations, identify exceptions, test controls, and improve audit coverage and efficiency.

• Detecting duplicate payments, unusual journals, suspicious master-data changes, unusual approvals, split transactions, dormant accounts, and other anomalies.

• Using statistical analysis, trend analysis, exception reporting, visualisation, process analytics, and continuous monitoring to strengthen ERP assurance.

• Applying artificial intelligence and machine-learning techniques responsibly while addressing data quality, model risk, explainability, governance, and false-positive considerations.

Module 14: Cloud ERP, SaaS and Third-Party Enterprise Applications

• Auditing cloud ERP architecture, shared-responsibility models, service configurations, identity controls, security responsibilities, and provider dependencies.

• Evaluating SaaS application controls, vendor assurance reports, contractual requirements, service-level commitments, data protection, and operational resilience.

• Assessing third-party integrations, outsourced business processes, managed services, application providers, and technology supply chain risks.

• Addressing multi-tenant environments, continuous vendor releases, configuration ownership, portability, exit planning, and evolving cloud assurance challenges.

Module 15: ERP Audit Evidence, Reporting and Remediation

• Collecting and evaluating ERP configurations, access listings, audit logs, transaction data, workflow records, reports, screenshots, system documentation, and electronic evidence.

• Applying sampling, reperformance, observation, inspection, data analytics, inquiry, automated testing, and other procedures to obtain reliable audit evidence.

• Developing clear ERP audit findings that connect control conditions, criteria, causes, consequences, risks, evidence, and practical recommendations.

• Managing management responses, remediation plans, issue validation, follow-up testing, overdue actions, residual risk, and communication with senior stakeholders.

Module 16: Advanced ERP Assurance and Emerging Enterprise Application Risks

• Auditing intelligent ERP, embedded artificial intelligence, generative AI features, predictive analytics, autonomous workflows, and algorithm-enabled business decisions.

• Assessing robotic process automation, low-code applications, citizen development, APIs, digital ecosystems, and decentralised enterprise technology risks.

• Evaluating continuous controls monitoring, process mining, real-time assurance, automated audit procedures, and technology-enabled audit transformation.

• Developing future-focused ERP assurance strategies addressing emerging cyber threats, technology convergence, regulatory change, system complexity, and evolving enterprise application risks.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.