From the White House to Wall Street, there has been a lot of talk lately about whistleblowers. In the Ethiopian Airlines scandal, an engineer warned company execs for years about shoddy aircraft service. In March 2019, a Boeing 737 crashed killing 157 people. The whistleblower engineer is now seeking asylum in the United States. (1) […]
When Whistles Blow, 3 Things Auditors Must Know Read More »
Outside of boxing or mixed martial arts, internal auditing has to be one of the most contentious careers around. After all, you hardly ever a department saying, “Let’s invite the internal auditors to our next staff meeting.” But I don’t think we’re destined to be the bad guys that everyone hates to see coming and
How to Become a Respected Audit Professional Read More »
Most modern organizations have at least one process that is outsourced or co-sourced to a third-party provider. There are numerous reasons why this may be a good decision. Sometimes there may be non-core functions that third parties perform better. Other times it is more financially feasible to have an outside party perform a function. And
Internal Auditors Must Rethink Third-Party Providers Read More »
You’ve just completed a very complex audit. There were a multiple issues to report. Some issues have easy fixes and others would require a significant amount of time and attention. Management’s action plans are very detailed. They contain concise responses, assign responsible parties for fixing the issues and include due dates. So when audit and
The Follow-up Audit Fallacy Read More »
I am an internal auditor and I love it. Most outside of the profession believe that internal auditors sit behind a desk all day with a 10 key (remember those?) or a spreadsheet verifying numbers. Boy is that far from the truth. But most of us in the profession already know that. And for those
Three Reasons You’ll Love Internal Auditing Read More »
Auditors are humble messengers who deliver news to clients. The news is typically an assessment of management’s processes. And let’s be honest, auditors can find something to report in any area, no matter how well controlled the processes. But that does not necessarily mean we should report everything. Realistically, it does not matter what you
How to Deliver Bad News to Audit Clients Read More »
Have you ever been in the middle of an audit engagement with severe issues and thought, “This is the audit that will get me fired!”? I know what you’re thinking, “That’s absurd”. After all, who would fire auditors for doing the job you hired them to do? In a perfect world, the Office of Internal
3 Reasons Auditors Should Not Fear Being Fired Read More »
There is a joke about the love/hate relationship between auditors and clients. Auditor: We’re coming to audit you soon. Will you guys be available? Client: Sure, you know we love you guys! Auditor: REALLY Client: Well we hate to see you coming and love to see you going. A client said this to me jokingly
The Audit Love Triangle Read More »
I recently hired a new employee. One of the first things I wanted to do was make him comfortable with the people performing the processes…our audit clients. So I hustled him from department to department introducing him to our clients. Our clients were cordial to the new employee and openly disclosed their thoughts about
Auditors should not be Confined to Cubicles Read More »
Curiosity killed the cat is a metaphor used to convey the dangers of questioning the status quo. It is often used to discourage people from asking questions. However, there is true productivity and power in asking questions. Imagine if the Wright Brothers had not asked, can man fly like a bird or if Henry Ford
Curiosity is the Cornerstone of Internal Auditing Read More »