“I was very grateful to participate in this workshop organized by the CEF. This workshop truly exceeded my expectations and pushed me to blend curiosity and critical thinking essential for successful internal auditors. It is going to take more than the couple of days I have had to process everything that I learned there.

I appreciate the enormous work done by the CEF in preparation for this workshop. The experts presented all the materials in a clear format, and the participants focused on key communication skills from active listening, interviewing, and negotiation to giving feedback and reporting. Communication with the field experts and exchange of experience with my peers was very valuable for me. Participating in this course enabled me to evaluate my knowledge of the audit field, and I admit that I still have some aspects to study. After the course, confidence in my own strengths and continuous desire for personal development increased, while the fear of accepting new challenges disappeared. 

I consider this workshop a great and challenging opportunity, involving exceptional experts and participants from more than ten countries. I got several takeaways that have changed my attitude and behavior regarding presentation skills: 

• Clear communication
• Influencing decision-makers
• building trust; understanding
• Engaging and motivating the audience
• Planning and structuring the presentation of the audit report into an unusual audit report model with a “pyramid structure”
• Transforming long audit reports into a shorter ones
• Using the “pitching” technique to efficiently and quickly communicate the results of the audit mission
• delivering a clear structure of the presentation with the help of visuals (images, graphs, diagrams, icons)
• Managing question-and-answer sessions
• Overcoming presentation anxiety
• Practicing non-verbal language
• Applying new models of data visualization and storytelling in internal auditing

All this helps the stakeholders better understand the audit reports and makes them easier to read also for other users.

I expect that what I have learned will be infused into my work performance, and I’m excited to catch and ride this wave of learning and pushing myself and other colleagues. As I reflect upon the past decade of my internal audit activities, I am now embarking on an exciting new chapter. It is with great enthusiasm that I return to Moldova to contribute to the advancement of internal auditing. I will be working in the internal audit unit at the Ministry of Finance of Moldova, channeling my energy and commitment to taking my audit reporting skills to the next level and achieving good results. I will also share the useful information I have received to other internal auditors around the country.

Thank you very much for this workshop, assistance, and continued beautiful collaboration. I would also like to thank the CEF staff for your support, great sense of strengthening communication skills, brilliant minds, and everything else that you’re doing to make the CEF a better place to study and gain experience.”