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Creative and Critical Thinking for Auditors

Course Category Audit

September 09, 2026

7:00 a.m.

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On-Site

This course will be delivered on-site in FSM National Government.

Registration is open to insular government professionals.

Course Description

Creative and critical thinking skills are among the most important that auditors must develop to add value by perceiving what others do not in identifying root causes of problems and new possible solutions in a rapidly changing world. Students are encouraged to think out of the box and use critical thinking to break away from pre-conceived notions and the comfort zone of intuitive thinking to consider different perspectives and alternatives. This course includes brain training exercises and tools to think more abstractly, look beyond the obvious, challenge the status quo, and use for generating new ideas and making discoveries in practical audit applications.

What You Will Learn

• Describe and discuss the basic concepts of creative thinking.

• Eliminate roadblocks and barriers to the use of creative thinking in auditing.

• Distinguish between creative and critical thinking and explain their complementary roles in problem-solving.

• Describe two key stages in applying creative and critical thinking to identify the causes and solutions to problems with performance.

• Use creative thinking principles and tools to boost your output of innovative ideas and identify the real causes of, and best solutions to, organizational problems.

• Apply critical thinking principles and tools to organize, evaluate, and prioritize ideas generated by creative thinking.

Who Should Attend

APIPA conference sessions are intended for island government accountability professionals. Audit, budget, finance, accounting, and related management and staff members will find interest and value in this presentation.

NEXT SESSION

DAYS

HOURS

MINS

SECONDS

September 09, 2026

7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Change

CPEs - 8 Credit Hours

On-Site, FSM National Government

TBD, FSM National Government

Instructor

Michael Binder

Washington, District of Columbia

Michael, Gradudate School USA Instructor, is the fomer Director of the Graduate School USA, Government Audit Training Institute. Hes has served over forty two years in federal audit staff, management and executive positions in GAO, the Inspector General community and as Acting Inspector General of the National Endowment for the Arts. Michael has a BBA and MBA in Finance and Economics from the George Washington University, attended Harvard University, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the Federal Executive Institute. He is a Certified Internal Auditor, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a former national officer of the Association of Government Accountants.

Photo Gallery

Photos from recent activities hosted by the Pacific and Virgin Islands Training Initiatives (PITI-VITI) in support of conferences, training and leadership development, are available below.