Do you have time to read everything that comes across your desk and through your computer word for word? Most of us would say no. I scan business documents before I decide to read them. I try to glean the key take-aways from each document by reading titles, looking at pull quotes, and concentrating on […]
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Who is the target audience for your audit report?
You have to talk to members of the target audience for your audit report to find out what they care about. Yes. Talk to your readers. No. I am not crazy and you, deep down, know that I am right. I had to learn this the hard way from a radical guy named Brad. Early […]
The Four Principles of Good Business Writing
Many moons ago, Marty Stuckey changed my professional life. My job was to make our audit reports more appealing to the Legislature and I was flailing a bit. So far, all I had figured out was that the writing habits that I learned in high school and college were not being rewarded at work. I […]
Time Management Tips for Auditors
Don’t you just love it when the auditee won’t respond to your email? Or when your audit manager goes to a conference before finishing the review of your working papers? Waiting, I am afraid, is part of our job but you don’t have to let waiting get the better of you. Yes, of course, you […]
New Internal Audit Disclosure
An internal auditor following 2018 Yellow Book standards should add a statement to their audit report regarding their independence. This is new and I didn’t want you to miss it! GAGAS 2018 9.04 Audit organizations that meet the independence requirements for internal audit organizations, but not those for external audit organizations, should include in the […]
Using the name GAGAS in Vain
Do you ever use the words “Jesus!” or “God!” to punctuate a sentence? My aunt couldn’t stand it when we used the Lord’s name in vain. Using the Lord’s name in vain was a big no-no to her (and many others). She would cuss us out if we kids ever made that mistake in her […]
What is audit criteria?
Audit criteria is the standard that you evaluate the subject matter against. Without firm criteria, the auditee will likely resist your audit recommendations. I know I did when I was audited. Auditees might fight you over every statement in the report I was audited three times in a very short period because I was the […]
Performance Audit vs. Financial Audit
So how do you tell the difference? Performance audit vs. financial audit? You might expect that it would be as simple as saying that a financial audit deals with money and a performance audit does not. But oh no! The audit standards are never that straightforward. As a matter of fact, the most comprehensive audit […]
Has a compliance audit ever made you cray cray?
A compliance audit can be one of the most straightforward audits out there OR it can drive an auditor absolutely nuts. Since an audit is defined as the evaluation of a subject matter against a criteria, an auditor’s level of sanity hinges on how clear the criteria is. The GAO gives us a long list […]
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