Do you ever feel that the internal auditor gets a bad rap? It sometimes seems as if organizations think of them as CSI investigators looking for clues to a crime, going out of the way to find something wrong and someone to blame.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
A Good Auditor Is a Coach
The goal of an internal auditor is to help you operate your business more effectively and more efficiently. Auditors are not gleefully looking for a process gap or a missing step in your documentation; they’re trying to help you tighten up your procedures and controls so that you don’t experience compliance issues, security breaches, or missteps in the handling of sensitive information. They help you reduce and mitigate risk.
Auditors have heart. They care. Your internal auditor is a partner in your business. When you partner with the right internal auditing firm, it’s a competitive advantage. When you hire a proofreader to assist you when you are writing a book, you benefit from a second pair of eyes to look over your work with fresh perspective. A proofreader doesn’t set out to change what you have written; he or she simply ensures that you haven’t spelled something wrong or accidentally used an incorrect word.
Why Auditors Get a Bad Reputation
Internal auditors sometimes get a bad reputation because what they learn is the technical aspect of their jobs – developing audit plans, documenting everything, creating comprehensive reports. What they don’t learn initially is the importance of approach – the soft skills that remove the adversarial feel of the audit. Auditing shouldn’t be adversarial; it should be a cooperative and collaborative effort to help your organization improve, using the established international best practices set forth by IIA.
When you approach auditing as a collaborative effort, you begin to realize that even the best people can make mistakes, that even the most flawless of processes can sometimes be missing a critical step – and you work together to fill in the gaps and prevent the errors. Securing an auditor with a heart is most beneficial to your company and a lot more fun!
Becoming a Better Auditor
We believe that auditors can be strong partners to the organizations they serve. That’s why Fowler & Company has launched the Internal Audit Career Academy, where internal auditors learn the competencies that will allow you to be clear about the direction in which you are going:
- You will receive growth strategies and best practices you didn’t even know existed
- You will be mentored by successful auditors
- You will have the opportunity to model examples that will show you exactly how to do something
- You will learn from other people’s best practices and experiences
- You will work from proven templates and processes
In addition, you will have the opportunity to set goals and gain clarity with other auditors twice a year at a live event filled with meetings and networking opportunities. Learn more.
