Your Desk is for Sitting - Not Internal Auditing

Problem: Many internal auditors spend way too much time at their desks, rather than out in the field interviewing and gathering information and data.

Solution: You need to force yourself to break through the barriers of going into the field and talking to auditees. You do this by perspective, getting your mind right, visualization, preparation, and other steps we’ll dive into now.

At one office I worked at, we used to have a joke about certain internal auditors who couldn’t come up with a finding if they tripped over it. These internal auditors would sit at their desks all day long, every day, and think that a finding was going to magically appear; that some finding was going to magically appear on their computer screen.

The joke was that eventually they would get so tired that they would fall asleep, and then they would gradually fall forward, leaning into their keyboard, and their head would hit the keyboard, and some magic would occur, and they would awake in a startled state, pop back up, and look at their screen and there was the finding that they had been looking for.

It was a joke, but like a lot of humor, it’s based in some fact or reality.

By far that is how most of the internal auditors that I witnessed over my career operated. I don’t mean falling asleep at their desk. I mean spending a majority their time sitting at their desk rather than getting out there and auditing.

“…But auditing is done at our desks. I need to write and create spreadsheets and put together workpapers…”

Yes. I understand. But those activities are generally a byproduct of getting out in the field and gathering documents, getting downloads of data, observing, talking to auditees — a lot of auditees, following up with auditees — a lot, and so on.

I find that sitting at your desk is most commonly associated with the stress or the dislike of talking to auditees. 

Almost all of the internal auditors I knew, hated to conduct interviews. They didn’t like to talk to people, and they were uncomfortable when they were asked to do so, or had to do so.

So, they would procrastinate. They would figure out different ways around talking to auditees in person, such as sending the person an email or talking to them on the phone; but because they hated talking to auditee, they were never any good at it.

You’ve probably seen this scenario; perhaps have even done it yourselves: send email to auditee requesting answers to a list of questions; auditee doesn’t respond; follow-up a week later; rinse and repeat.

Or…

Leave voice mail for auditee. Auditee doesn’t respond. Follow-up a week later.

How do you deal with those situations? Several ways.

1. Show up at their office.

2. Show up in their department and start talking to others.

3. Identify other potential sources and start calling, emailing, and showing up at their offices.

4. Get on their calendar.

5. Get on their manager’s or executive’s calendar.

When you start talking to others in the auditee’s department, talk to their executive, or talk to other departments about the auditee’s issue, something magical happens: the auditee becomes available; they start responding.

Why?

1. Because they want to control the narrative. If you’re getting their peers’ and sub-ordinates’ perspectives and opinions, they may or may not be the auditee’s perspective. The auditee will think that others’ may present viewpoints that are unfavorable to the auditee.

2. The auditee’s manager or executive, by meeting with you, has sent the signal that the matter is important to that manager or executive. The auditee is now forced to take things more seriously, or lose face with their superiors.

In any event, back to the matter at hand…

Here’s the truth of the matter. Auditing is not done sitting at your desk. Auditing is done by getting out on the field and observing things with your own eyes and talking to people. Talking to a lot of people. Observing a lot of things. Gathering key data from people and systems. And then you go back to your desk…

But I get it. We’re internal auditors. We’re introverts. There’s an invisible wall preventing us from getting out there. We’re worried that

· people won’t like us,

· we won’t know what to say,

· auditees will be mean to us,

· we’ll have a panic attack,

· we’ll make an ass out of ourselves,

· other internal auditors or manages will find out we don’t know what we’re doing,

· an auditee will complain, and we’ll get fired,

· we’ll do something wrong,

· and so on.

Am I getting warm?

Great, you say; yeah, that’s me to a certain extent. But how do I break through that wall?

Step #1: Perspective

First of all, you need to put it into perspective. There’s almost a zero percent chance that any of those things are going to happen. And even if they do, no one is going to care. And even if they do, they will forget about it sooner than you think.

Here’s one thing you need to understand about human nature. No one cares about you. Okay, that sounds a little harsh. Here’s what I mean. Other people are so caught up in how they look, how they feel, what they’re doing, etc. that they barely notice what you’re doing.

Think of the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in your life. Okay, no, forget about that one. Think about the second most embarrassing thing that has happened to you in your life. If there was a friend or family member there, ask them about it. Chances are, they have no recollection of the event at all. Even if they do, chances are they will have no recollection of you making an ass out of yourself.

Next, consider that most of your fears about going out into the field and dealing with auditees, are in your head.

Don’t take it from me, here’s how the Greek philosopher Seneca put it: “We Suffer More In Imagination Than In Reality”

Here’s how Mark Twain put it: “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

Step #2: Psyche yourself up for it.

Think about how a sprinter or football player or basketball player behaves right before a big event. They don’t just go run or go play the game. In the hours leading up to the event, they’re preparing — in their minds. They’re psyching themselves out. Then, immediately before the event, they focus intently on psyching themselves out.

You’re going to do the same thing. Before you have to go to that meeting with the auditee or go out and talk to auditees in the field, you’re going to start psyching yourself up. Talk to yourself. Motivate yourself. Convince yourself that you’re unstoppable and that you’re going to do great.

Step 3: Visualization.

Right before you head out into the field. Take a minute to close your eyes and visualize it. This is what all great athletes do. They play the plays and the game in their head, before they play the actual game.

See yourself

· meeting the auditees,

· talking to them,

· smiling,

· laughing,

· being totally comfortable,

· being confident, and

· being successful.

Then watch the magic happen. Most of the time, that’s exactly how it will happen.

Step 4: Preparation

Now, you can do all of the steps above. But if you don’t prepare; if you don’t know your stuff, it won’t matter.

Think about it like this. If you’re a basketball player who psyches themselves up and visualizes hitting 10, 3-pointers in a row and sinking the winning basket, but you rarely practice and are a horrible shooter, you might experience some benefit from psyching yourself up and visualizing; but it’s not going to be enough. You’ll still suck as a shooter; you just won’t suck quite as much.

The same goes for your internal auditor self. If you don’t know the subject matter. If you don’t know your questions and why you’re asking them, and you haven’t put in the practice time; you’re going to suck.

Don’t suck. Prepare.

Step 5: Just do it.

Sometimes there’s just no other way to say it or do it. After you’ve tried everything, you just need to force yourself to push through that barrier.

We’ve all been there. We’re on a rock at the edge of a deep river, or on a high dive at a pool, or on a bridge with a bungee cord attached to our feet, or wearing a parachute at the edge of the plane door about to do a sky dive — unless someone pushes us, which actually is a strategy; but unless someone pushes us, we get up the courage or the motivation to just jump. We push through that barrier.

Whatever situation we were in where we pushed through that barrier, use that experience, that knowledge to convince yourself that you have done it, and you can do it.

Step 6: Repetition.

Keep putting yourself out there, keep putting yourself through it. Over time, it will become easier and easier, and less and less stressful.

Before you know it, you’ll be right at home out there shooting the sh@t with the auditees and spending most of your time in the field.

Bottom line: force yourself to get out into the field. Just do it.

Check out our Newsletter “Secrets of Millionaire Internal Auditors — Mastering the Game of Internal Auditing & Getting Rich While Doing It” for street-smarts, in-the-trenches internal auditing hacks, techniques and strategies that you won’t get anywhere else.