How can you learn anything if you are talking? My PawPaw always told his grandchildren that if our mouths were moving, we weren’t learning. If your mouth is moving, you aren’t conducting an audit interview; you are making a presentation! 90% of the sound should be coming from the interviewee, not you! Assess your audit […]
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Focus on a narrow audit objective
The 2018 version of the Yellow Book mentions audit objectives 163 times in one chapter on performance audits! That tells me that objectives run the show! And you know, the broader your audit objective, the longer your audit becomes and the harder your audit report is to write. A few years ago, I created […]
Audit Resources for Smooth Sailing
Running an audit organization is like captaining a ship. With the right crew, enough provisions, and a clear course, you’ll navigate the seas of risk with confidence.
The elements of an audit finding
The elements of an audit finding are so core to planning, performing, and reporting on an audit, one newsletter can only scratch the surface on all that needs to be said! In this newsletter, we will just get a sense of what the elements of an audit finding are. What are the elements of a […]
Audit Report Writing Tip: The Three Stages of Editing
The editing hierarchy for audit reports When I first began my role as editor of audit reports in a large audit office, I edited in the silliest way possible. I wasted so much time and caused so much animosity, it is surprising they kept me on the payroll. Here is what I would do: I […]
Audit interviews can change color very quickly
In relating to others—especially the ultra-sensitive, elusive creature known as the audit client—we do well to imagine ourselves as lead chameleons. Chameleons change colors with the environment they are in. It is your job, as lead chameleon, to create the tone—the color, if you will—of the audit interview. Here are two aspects of being a […]
How Auditors Help Take Care of Federal Grants
How NOT to take care of a grant My generous father paid for my entire education at the University of Texas back in the ‘80s. For the first two years, he paid the University directly for my tuition, dormitory, and food plan. Tuition then was a whopping $464 a semester! I estimate he might have […]
7 ways to avoid scope creep
You know your audit has suffered scope creep when your audits have birthdays. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday you horrible project that will never end… Happy Birthday toooo youuuuu! But you don’t have to take it lying down. Combat scope creep with one or more of these 7 ideas. Scope […]
Hard Earned Audit Wisdom – Audit Planning per the GAO
Objectives: • Differentiate between the concepts of materiality and significance • Identify factors that affect audit risk in a performance audit • Define the parameters of an audit project: audit objective, audit scope, and audit methodology • Distinguish among the types of information that you “should” and “may” gather during the planning phase of a […]
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