Internal Audit

Education and Training Industry Audit Checklist

Training audit refers to a fact-based assessment to know whether the work the Learning & Development team has been performing has proved to be beneficial or merely a waste of resources. The existing training materials are viewed and analyzed. Improvement cannot be done on something that we do not measure. During financial uncertainties, the budgets for training are among the major cost-cutting casualties.

The Need for Auditing the Training Programs

The transformation of the Organization must match the pace of ongoing change within the Organization. Hence, the learning & development teams must adjust, coordinate and acknowledge this change.

The productivity requirements of the organizations can be met by keeping track of the Organization’s training programs. It can be done by

• Making a comparison of the performance of the company to L&D benchmarks in the company.
• The efficiency of the present learning and development strategies and in making suggestions that relate to the improvement areas.
• The training programs must also align with the aims and objectives of the Organization.
• The performance and learning gaps should be highlighted by employee training.
• There should be a thorough understanding of the preferences of the learners.

Components of a Training Audit

There are five essential components of the Training Audit, as mentioned below-

Areas for Evaluation of the Training Program

There are five important factors to consider at the time of evaluating the training program, as mentioned below:-

1. The Procedure for Learning & Development
2. The Strategy of Learning & Development
3. The technology stack
4. The budget for training
5. And the training resources

The only way to adapt successfully to the rapidly changing productivity and performance imperatives is to conduct the training audit properly. This type of audit helps to deliver the objective benchmarks and provides insights into the L&D program’s status. It evaluates the present performance as well as provides recommendations about future L&D strategies.

The assessments and audits help to change the perspective of L&D – from the cost-absorbers to the drivers of performance. It also assists in getting to know how instrumental the teams of learning & development are as the value creators inside the enterprise.

Training Audits Checklist

We will be covering eight key sections for the training audits checklist–

1. The Training Program Inventory refers to maintaining an organized inventory of all the relevant information like the duration, frequency and delivery methods.
2.  Training needs– The identification of the training needs which are specific to different job roles and departments. To identify the gaps and suggest the training that is suitable for it.
3. Compliance with the Legal Requirements– Monitoring should be done about the legal compliance, and necessary actions and recommendations should be done.
4. Training Budget- To know and understand how the budget for training is to be utilized and in what ways the resources are allocated in different departments.
5. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Training- The measurement of the effectiveness of a particular training program is important. The feedback of the participants and the incorporation of the pre and post-training assessments is important.
6. Attendance- It refers to keeping track of the training schedules, identifying the target audience, what are the number of participants and the records pertaining to attendance.
7. Areas of Improvement– The best practices in the training programs should be pinpointed, the areas where improvement is necessary must be identified, and necessary actions should be suggested.
8. Summary and Recommendations- Summarize the observations and key findings and provide recommendations in order to enhance the training programs.

 Steps of Auditing a Training Program

The following steps are essential to audit a training program-

• To create a list of the training programs. The learners should also be able to access these programs via the learning platforms. The list will help to audit the training program to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the same.
• The examination of the data and the feedback of the learners. Analyzing the feedback of the students and the statistics will enhance future audits of the training platforms. While auditing, please note the training programs the learners attend the most and the performance of the learners in those. If most learners are not comfortable with specific programs, then it is important to bring changes in those many training programs.
• The analysis of the performance of the staff members- The performance of the staff members must be assessed before getting them enrolled in training sessions. A comparison should also be made between their historical performance and their present training.
• The training initiatives should be connected with the company’s objectives- Make sure that the training program is tied to the goals of the Organization for enhanced productivity and employee reskilling.

Training Budget

 There are two essential components in any audit of the Learning and development budget that includes-

• Investment Calculation Returns– Outlining the financial returns from the training investments must be done. It helps the company to find out the reason to keep funding the Learning & Development at the time of an economic crisis.
• Plans versus Reality– The comparison should be done about the actual and anticipated budgeting expenses. Audit the excessive spending very carefully, and at the same time, underspending can also affect the effectiveness of the training program negatively.

Training Resources

The training resources include many things, some of which are mentioned below. The auditors for the Learning and development must analyze these resources very properly.

The resources are- The educational materials that are available through a variety of channels. Different techniques and methods to create training experiences for individual persons, personalize upskilling and reskilling. The tools, platforms and technologies that are required to deliver training.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

While the training audits aim to investigate the training content gaps, if any, one must also think about what the training should achieve. The Key Performance Indicator that proves the Return on Investment is also called ROI. The list of KPIs is given below-

• Production Metrics– It should be ensured that fewer accidents take place on the job, and health and safety measures must be followed to keep the employees safe and comply with recertification.
• Retention Metrics– It means to check the service delivery. The provisions for onboarding, reduced ticket times, etc. To improve the satisfaction of the customers. The customer lifecycle should be strengthened. It also includes knowledge about the product, provision for replacing the parts, updates and upgrades.
• Human Capital Metrics– These are the hard and soft skills, career development and certifications. A knowledge base, training in the form of job aids, etc., deliver the administration’s support.
• Business Development Metrics– To improve the lead quality, overcoming objections and improving sales performance.

Audit techniques

There are some prominent techniques for these audits, like interviews. The interviews can be conducted in person or remotely. Surveys are also important techniques. These are ideal for a population which is geographically dispersed. A focused assessment can also be conducted by using a small group of participants to secure feedback. The staff which conducts the training audit may have much from their personal observations of the L&D programs.

Internal documents like instructional designers, trainers, managers and HR professionals all produce documentation relating to different facets of the Organization. The auditors can learn a lot simply by going through these documents.

The Internal L&D process

With the evolvement of businesses, the Learning and development processes also evolve with it. The specific audit areas include-

L&D Output includes the potential to leverage the partnerships, outsourcing the L&D processes.

The codification of the internal knowledge- The focus of the training audit should be on the processes to document the lessons learned and other corporate knowledge which contributes to the performance and productivity gains.

The technology stack- The technology of the L&D also evolves with the evolving business. The audit procedures should have a relook at the following to make sure that the L&D function is well-equipped-

• Development and delivery tools
• Collaboration and communication tools
• Data learning & analytics platforms
• Technologies like content management and LMS systems, etc.

Catalog of the training program Assets

Preparing a catalogue or list of all the training programs will help the learners greatly to access the training delivery platform. It will also assist in refining the training program to make sure that the content is complete and achieves the desired learning goals.

Compliance and Record-Keeping

Navigating the standards and regulations is a critical part of the training program. Here, the role of verifying compliance comes into play. It also ensures that the training programs adhere to the relevant standards and regulations and checks if the training records are complete and accurate. It also helps avoid any potential non-compliance issues, which might have serious ramifications for the industry or Organization. Ensuring compliance forms a critical component of a training audit.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of the training programs helps one to know how good the company itself is. If the training materials or resources are not proper, then the employees cannot be trained properly, which will hugely impact the functioning of the Industry itself. Hence, the need arises for the proper audits of the training sector.

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