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 […]
Curiosity is the Cornerstone of Internal Auditing Read More »
How important is completing the audit plan? For many audit departments, it is a key performance measurement used to determine the department’s effectiveness. But wait, I thought the goal of internal audit was to evaluate
The Best Audit is Sometimes the Audit You Never Start Read More »
The audit report is a critical part of the audit process. It, at a minimum, formally communicates to stakeholders the state of a control environment. The reporting phase is oftentimes troublesome. Many auditors spend
2 Reasons Your Audit Report Fell Flat Read More »
Within every profession, there are certain characteristics, traits, and tasks that mark great professionals. Internal auditing is no different. Professionals can make the transition from good to great by following these 5 steps. Experience the
5 Things Great Internal Auditors Do! Read More »
What would you like to see on That Audit Guy? Help make That Audit Guy your best source of risk and audit information by answering a few questions. Answer the three polling questions. There
What Would You Like to See on That Audit Guy? Read More »
The war for audit talent is very competitive. Finding, developing and retaining talented professionals can be very difficult. Oftentimes, bad auditors remain at organizations because managers are either too lazy or too afraid to develop or let go of slackers. If you are confused about what a slacker looks like, here are three types of auditors you should fire immediately.
Three Auditors You Should Fire Now Read More »
Every person (regardless of age, gender, ethnic background, appearance, intelligence level, whatever) deserves a basic level of respect. It is unfortunate that many work environments do not understand this and operate under an unofficial “class
What to do when audit clients cross the line Read More »
Asking questions (observation and inquiry) is one of the most critical internal auditing skills. It allows auditors to gain an understanding of processes, objectively evaluate the function and reach logical conclusions regarding the effectiveness and
Three Killer Questions for Internal Audit Clients Read More »
I remember working for one audit function that established a testing/sampling population of 25 for everything. If the actual population was 25,000 records, we tested 25. If the population was 1,000,000 records, we tested 25. Although fairly young in my career when I experienced this, my instinct told me this was wrong. After inquiring, I was told
Data Doesn’t Lie…But Your Analysis Technique Might Read More »
Several years ago while building a new relationship with an audit client, I mentioned that it would be ”fun to audit” Carnival’s cruise ship operations. She responded, ”Why, so you can catch them doing something wrong.” At this point, we had a candid conversation about her perception of internal auditing and what we really do. I explained that it is never our intention to “catch” someone doing something wrong. We are charged with evaluating processes to determine if risks have been identified and are appropriately managed via effective and efficient controls. Fortunately, this client was very open to learning about internal audit. We audited several of her areas with success. She would occasionally joke about our initial interaction by commenting that it would be “fun” to audit process a, b or c in our organization. Except her definition of “fun” was not really all that exciting. it was typically coworkers that were a pain in the but for her. Then one day she asked me, what was the
It would be fun to Audit… Read More »