Quote of the Week – 30/10/15

This week I caught up with a Recruitment Consultant with whom I am on friendly terms and we chatted about the usual subjects, e.g. who was recruiting, who wasn’t and salaries. During our discussion, it became apparent that Internal Auditors are held in low esteem, especially those in industry. I was moderately surprised by this as larger firms, e.g.FTSE 100, should have an internal audit function to kick the tyres. This doesn’t have to be unduly complex but sufficient to the Board some assurance that systems work.

The answer was quite unpleasant. Apparently auditors in industry are seen to be “lazy” and “don’t ask the hard questions they should be asking”.

In part, this stems a degree of scepticism of the senior management team on how much value add internal audit can bring.

By any stretch of the imagination, these are poor labels to have but having met a large of employees on the line, few are burning bright. I would like to think this arises because certain industries aren’t regulated and there isn’t the need for auditors to be on the ball. Of course, weaker auditors or those with low ambitions will be drawn to these sectors. It’s a pity as it’s a wasting opportunity. If you can go the extra mile, identify real opportunities to improve business efficiency and profitability, you will be worth your weight in gold.