Auditing Strategic & ESG Risk: Building Governance Resilience – August 2026
11th – 13th August 2026
Johannesburg – South Africa
Course overview
Strategic risks are among the most significant drivers of organizational success or failure. Yet internal audit functions often hesitate to assess strategy because it is seen as the domain of boards and executive management. At the same time, organizations are increasingly expected to demonstrate not only financial performance, but also sustainability, stakeholder value, and measurable social impact.
This course closes that gap. It equips internal auditors with the knowledge, frameworks, and practical tools needed to audit strategy formulation, strategy execution, and ESG strategy integration. Participants will learn how to assess the quality of strategic analysis, governance, implementation, and reporting, and how to evaluate whether ESG activities genuinely create value.
A special emphasis on Day 3 extends the traditional strategy audit perspective into ESG strategy, ESG performance measurement, ROI of ESG initiatives, and social impact measurement, enabling internal auditors to provide stronger assurance and more strategic insight to boards and senior management.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the nature of strategic risk and why it matters for internal audit.
- Define the role of internal audit in strategy development and execution.
- Assess the quality of strategic analysis, strategic decision-making, and implementation processes.
- Identify governance, methodological, and behavioral risks in corporate strategy.
- Audit strategic objectives, KPIs, assumptions, and management bias.
- Evaluate whether strategy is effectively cascaded, monitored, and embedded across the organization.
- Understand the role of ESG within corporate strategy and enterprise value creation.
- Assess ESG strategic planning, materiality assessments, stakeholder engagement, and ESG governance.
- Evaluate ESG implementation, performance indicators, and reporting systems.
- Apply practical methods for calculating the ROI of ESG activities.
- Use social impact measurement concepts to assess broader outcomes and long-term value creation.
- Develop robust audit plans for both strategy audits and ESG strategy audits.