Capital Program Governance: Why Large Projects Fail and What Audit Should Do About It

Large capital programs routinely fail not because of a single error, but due to compounding breakdowns in governance, controls, and oversight discipline. This course examines why major projects exceed budgets, miss milestones, and drift from original scope—focusing on the systemic issues that audit functions are often positioned too late to influence. Participants will explore common failure patterns such as scope creep, weak procurement controls, poor change management, and unreliable forecasting, while also identifying early warning indicators that signal trouble long before formal project failure is declared. The course equips auditors with practical tools to move from hindsight reviews to proactive, in-flight assurance across capital programs.