This year I had the opportunity to apply the Internal Audit Capability Maturity Model (that is a mouth full!) to an audit organization of over 60 auditors. It was fascinating, but it goes against everything I teach in an auditing seminar. In an auditing seminar, I teach that the audit objective has to have a […]
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How to perform root cause analysis using the elements of a finding
Root cause analysis is a very fancy term for something most three-year-olds do naturally. Three-year-olds ask “Why?” about all kinds of random stuff such as, “Why do I have to wear sunscreen?” or “Why are your feet so big, Mommy?” Lean Six Sigma literature calls this natural curiosity, ‘the five whys.’ You guessed it, they […]
A Pretty Facade Won’t Cover an Audit Failure – Steps of an Audit, concluded
No amount of editing or formatting will cover a failed audit The most common reason that audit reports are so painful to create is that the audit itself failed. The Worst Audit Ever! When I worked for a legislative auditor in the early 90’s, audit management was chomping at the bit to try a […]
Why you should tell your new audit staff everything
I didn’t know what I was doing – or why I was doing it – early in my audit career. I had taken one (one!) college course on auditing that looked nothing like what I encountered on my first audit. Regardless, I was now on the payroll and the firm expected me to earn my […]
How to do an audit in 14 steps
Auditing can get complicated, especially when you are using audit tools developed by someone else. Sometimes you get so hung up in checking all the boxes and filling in all the blanks, that you lose sight of the big picture. Here is how to do an audit in 14 steps so that you know where […]
Audit Interview Skill: Listening
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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