Online Courses

A critical component of the Public Spending Code is the financial analysis which supports your projects / programmes.  The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has provided two excel files to guide the financial analysis for proposals / projects / programmes under €1 million and over €1 million. This training delivers a workshop to help participants navigate and populate the financial analysis templates.  In addition, the course aims to develop the skills and knowledge of the participants in investment appraisal tools and techniques to support a financial analysis.

This programme, Public Spending Code: Carrying out a Financial Analysis (November 2021 Update), builds on our general Public Spending Code course and attendance is recommended at that course prior to taking this programme.

The aim of the Certificate in Audit Skills (CAS) is to develop the skills and knowledge of public sector internal auditors in order to carry out effective audits and make a greater contribution to the governance of their organisations.  The Certificate is an issues-based course focused on skills enhancement to meet the ever-changing needs of the auditor in delivering an added value and quality service. The programme examines in detail, and in a very practical manner, the key areas of the work of an internal auditor.

Courtroom Skills is a one-day intenstive training course that is ideal for anyone who may be expected to give evidence in court in a professional capacity. Participants will learn about effective courtroom presentation and communication skills. Particular focus is placed on confidence building and assertive communication. Participants will have an opportunity to be examined in chief and cross-examined on a sample-case and receive one to one feedback. 

Commercial Rates Law is a one day online course that is for staff working within the Irish Local Government Sector who are dealing with the process of collecting commercial rates.

Debt Management Units have been established in Irish Local Authorities to deal with many areas of debt management including debts associated with commercial rates, housing rents and housing loans. The focus of this course centres specifically on the area of commercial rates law.

A good Financial Management Maturity Model will link practice and awareness of financial management to strategic outcomes of an organisation.  In 2018, the Comptroller and Auditor General published a good practice guide (Special Report 101) to assist public sector bodies.  

This half day course presents key financial management principles underpinning good practice and reviews this guide for application in the real world.  The course will be of particular interest to Executives and Boards within Public Sectors entities. 

Fraud affects the whole organisation. Boards and Senior Management have an important role to play in developing a fraud culture.

With the level of scrutiny and accountability that is required from organisations, fraud is a significant risk and Internal Audit plays a significant role when auditing internal controls.   

The responsibility for budget management and control is being cascaded down to individual Departments and Centres within Irish Local Government.  This creates a need for those with the responsibility for these areas and Elected Members to understand the financial processes, reports and documents that they are being asked to comment upon.

This half day Budget Management and Control for Local Government course is designed to provide the support needed by detailing the system of preparing budgets, the process by which actual expenditure is calculated and the control system used whereby actual and budgetary figures are compared to produce ‘variances’.  The process of analysing variances, for the purpose of explaining under or over spending is a key aspect of this course, in the same way that is the main means of effecting budgetary control in Local Government.

Standards for Rented Houses is a training programme for all staff, both professional/technical and administrative, who have responsibilities related to enforcement of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. The IPA, working in close collaboration with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, present this four-day training progamme. 

The programme seeks to bring about a common understanding among Inspectorate Staff, and thereby a standardisation, in interpretation and implementation of the Regulations and Guidelines both within individual local authorities and across the sector generally.

The Certificate in Management and Financial Accounting (previously Certificate in International Public Financial Management) consists of two modules: Management Accounting and Financial Accounting.

The Management Accounting module provides an introduction to the principles of costing and budgeting and their use in providing information to support management decision making. The skills and knowledge that students develop in this module are crucial in performing the finance professional roles of steward, enabler and innovator and underpin much of the activity associated with the business partner role.

The Financial Accounting Module provides an introduction to accounting theory, ethics, bookkeeping and the preparation of financial statements, which are all fundamental to the stewardship role performed by finance professionals in modern organisations.

View the Course Brochure here.

Managing in a Hybrid Environment is designed to provide an opportunity for managerial staff to develop the skills and competencies required to effectively manage their teams in a blended working environment where adaptability, communication, cooperation and collaboration are essential competencies. The programme provides a safe learning environment in which participants can develop their managerial skills to not only navigate the current uncertainty in the working environment, but to ensure their teams adapt to and thrive in the new hybrid-working world.