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Procurement Audit

Course PSCM-025

Procurement Audit

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Course Schedules Course Overview Course Objectives Target Audience Methodology Daily Agenda

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Introduction

Course overview

Procurement activities represent a significant area of financial expenditure, operational dependency, and compliance exposure for many organisations. Ineffective procurement controls can result in excessive costs, inappropriate supplier selection, contract non-compliance, delivery failures, conflicts of interest, and increased exposure to fraud and corruption. A systematic procurement audit helps organisations evaluate whether purchasing activities are transparent, properly controlled, commercially effective, and aligned with business requirements.

The Procurement Audit course provides internal auditors, procurement professionals, compliance specialists, and risk managers with a structured approach to auditing the complete procurement lifecycle. Participants learn how to assess procurement governance, evaluate sourcing and tendering procedures, examine supplier qualification processes, review purchasing transactions, and test controls over contracts, goods receipt, invoicing, and payments.

The programme also addresses procurement performance auditing, supplier risk assessment, fraud indicators, procurement data analytics, and audit reporting. Through practical case studies and audit simulations, participants develop the skills needed to identify procurement weaknesses, gather reliable evidence, assess financial and operational consequences, and recommend improvements that strengthen purchasing accountability and value for money.

Professional Problems This Course Is Designed to Solve

Weak procurement governance and compliance: Evaluating purchasing policies, delegated authorities, approval procedures, and adherence to applicable organisational and regulatory requirements.

Inadequate supplier selection and tendering controls: Identifying weaknesses in supplier qualification, competitive bidding, technical evaluation, and contract award decisions.

Uncontrolled purchasing expenditure: Reviewing purchase requisitions, purchase orders, pricing, budget compliance, and purchasing commitments to identify unnecessary or unauthorised expenditure.

Procurement fraud and conflicts of interest: Detecting indicators of supplier collusion, bid manipulation, fictitious vendors, duplicate payments, and inappropriate relationships.

Poor contract and supplier performance: Assessing contractual compliance, delivery performance, service quality, pricing arrangements, and supplier management controls.

Ineffective purchase-to-pay controls: Testing the completeness, accuracy, authorisation, and validity of procurement transactions, goods receipts, invoices, and payments.

Limited procurement audit coverage: Applying risk-based planning, transaction analytics, and structured audit testing to improve assurance over complex purchasing activities.

View full course outline

What you will achieve

Learning objectives

  • Understand the objectives, scope, and responsibilities of procurement auditing
  • Identify procurement risks across sourcing, purchasing, contracting, and supplier management
  • Evaluate procurement governance, policies, and internal control arrangements
  • Develop risk-based procurement audit plans and audit programmes
  • Assess supplier qualification, tendering, and contract award procedures
  • Test purchasing transactions, approval controls, and purchase-to-pay processes
  • Evaluate procurement contracts, supplier performance, and value for money
  • Identify procurement fraud indicators and potential conflicts of interest

Who should attend

Target audience

  • This course is suitable for:
  • Internal auditors and senior internal auditors
  • Procurement auditors and audit managers
  • Procurement and purchasing managers
  • Governance, risk, and compliance professionals
  • Internal control and assurance specialists
  • Contract management and supplier performance professionals
  • Financial controllers and accounts payable managers

Methodology

Learning approach

  • The programme combines instructor-led discussions, procurement audit case studies, risk-control mapping exercises, audit planning workshops, transaction testing simulations, supplier evaluation reviews, and procurement data analysis.
  • Participants examine realistic procurement documentation, including purchasing policies, tender records, supplier files, purchase orders, contracts, receiving reports, invoices, and payment records. Practical exercises focus on developing audit programmes, identifying control weaknesses, evaluating evidence, documenting findings, and preparing recommendations for procurement improvement.

Complete course outline

Five focused days of learning and application

The timings provided are estimates and may vary depending on the number of participants and the discussions taking place during the sessions. They are indicative only and do not constitute a binding commitment.

Day 1

Procurement Audit Fundamentals, Governance and Risk Assessment

  1. Understanding the purpose and scope of procurement auditing and its contribution to governance, financial control, operational efficiency, and value for money
  2. Mapping the procurement lifecycle from requirements identification and sourcing through contract award, purchasing, delivery, invoicing, and payment
  3. Evaluating procurement governance structures, purchasing policies, delegated authorities, ethical standards, and compliance requirements
  4. Identifying inherent and residual procurement risks associated with expenditure, supplier dependency, operational continuity, fraud, and contractual obligations
  5. Coffee break
  6. Identifying inherent and residual procurement risks associated with expenditure, supplier dependency, operational continuity, fraud, and contractual obligations (continued)
  7. Developing risk-based procurement audit objectives, scope, criteria, and testing priorities using procurement expenditure and control information
  8. Practical workshop: Preparing a procurement risk assessment and risk-based audit plan for a selected organisational purchasing process

Day 2

Auditing Supplier Sourcing, Tendering and Contract Award

  1. Reviewing procurement planning, sourcing strategies, market research, and the justification of competitive or non-competitive purchasing methods
  2. Evaluating supplier registration, qualification, due diligence, financial assessment, and conflict-of-interest controls
  3. Auditing requests for quotation, tender documentation, technical specifications, bid submission procedures, and evaluation criteria
  4. Testing supplier selection and contract award decisions for transparency, consistency, authorisation, and compliance with approved procedures
  5. Coffee break
  6. Testing supplier selection and contract award decisions for transparency, consistency, authorisation, and compliance with approved procedures (continued)
  7. Identifying red flags involving restrictive specifications, bid manipulation, supplier collusion, unjustified sole-source awards, and evaluation irregularities
  8. Practical exercise: Reviewing a procurement tender file to identify control weaknesses, compliance exceptions, and potential supplier selection risks

Day 3

Auditing Purchase-to-Pay Processes and Financial Controls

  1. Evaluating controls over purchase requisitions, purchase orders, approval limits, purchasing budgets, and expenditure commitments
  2. Testing segregation of duties across purchasing, supplier master data maintenance, goods receipt, invoice processing, and payment authorisation
  3. Reviewing receiving documentation, quantity verification, quality acceptance, and discrepancies between orders and delivered goods or services
  4. Auditing invoice validation, three-way matching, payment approvals, supplier bank detail changes, and accounts payable controls
  5. Coffee break
  6. Auditing invoice validation, three-way matching, payment approvals, supplier bank detail changes, and accounts payable controls (continued)
  7. Applying procurement transaction analytics to identify duplicate payments, split purchases, unusual prices, unsupported transactions, and purchasing policy violations
  8. Practical workshop: Performing purchase-to-pay audit tests using illustrative procurement transactions, supplier records, invoices, and payment data

Day 4

Contract Compliance, Supplier Performance and Procurement Value

  1. Auditing procurement contracts for approved terms, pricing conditions, delivery obligations, performance requirements, warranties, and change control provisions
  2. Evaluating supplier performance management through delivery reliability, quality results, service levels, corrective actions, and contract compliance
  3. Reviewing contract variations, extensions, price adjustments, claims, and additional expenditure for appropriate justification and approval
  4. Assessing procurement efficiency through purchasing cycle times, sourcing effectiveness, expenditure analysis, and supplier concentration
  5. Coffee break
  6. Assessing procurement efficiency through purchasing cycle times, sourcing effectiveness, expenditure analysis, and supplier concentration (continued)
  7. Applying value-for-money auditing principles to evaluate economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in procurement decisions
  8. Case study: Conducting a contract and supplier performance audit to identify commercial risks, operational weaknesses, and opportunities for procurement improvement

Day 5

Procurement Audit Reporting, Fraud Indicators and Continuous Monitoring

  1. Evaluating procurement audit evidence and distinguishing isolated transaction errors, systemic control weaknesses, compliance failures, and potential fraud indicators
  2. Developing audit findings with clear criteria, conditions, causes, consequences, supporting evidence, and practical recommendations
  3. Communicating procurement audit results to management, procurement leadership, audit committees, and relevant governance stakeholders
  4. Coffee break
  5. Establishing corrective action plans, management responsibilities, implementation deadlines, and audit follow-up procedures
  6. Designing continuous procurement monitoring indicators and dashboards covering purchasing compliance, supplier performance, transaction exceptions, and procurement risks
  7. Capstone exercise: Developing and presenting a Procurement Audit Report and Improvement Plan covering audit scope, risk assessment, testing results, control deficiencies, fraud indicators, recommendations, and follow-up priorities

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What does Procurement Audit (PSCM-025) cover?

This course covers Procurement and Supply Chain Management through a structured five-day outline focused on practical application, discussion, and implementation planning.

When is the next available session?

The course schedule and fee are available on request. Contact Aractech for current availability and a quotation.

Who should attend this course?

This course is suitable for:, Internal auditors and senior internal auditors, Procurement auditors and audit managers

Is bilingual course delivery available?

Yes. All course materials and presentations are provided in English, while bilingual explanation and discussion support may be available depending on the selected location and trainer availability. For example, when attending a course in Istanbul, you may request a Turkish-speaking trainer to explain the English course content in Turkish. Arabic explanation support may also be requested at this location. Other languages are available in selected cities. You can choose your preferred language support as an optional preference during registration.

How can I register for a session?

Use any Register button next to the available course dates to open the participant registration page and submit your booking request for the selected session.

Is this course available online as well as classroom-based?

The schedule and fee, including any available delivery options, are available on request. Contact Aractech for details.

Where are classroom sessions delivered?

Classroom venues are confirmed in the schedule panel for each published session.

How long is the training programme?

The programme runs for five days, with up to five training hours per day, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Each programme includes a total of 25 training hours.