Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Stop calling me an "auditee"!


A reader of my post "Internal Audit Survival Kit" posted the following comment:

"Not calling Internal Audit clients "auditees" should also be on the list!". He was referring to the list of skills/characters needed for an internal auditor to survive in which I have used the term "auditee".


Let's be honest, when was the last time someone in your organization objected to the term and asked you to stop calling him an auditee ? Does anyone really care?  Does the term "auditee" enforce the "policeman" image internal auditors are trying to avoid? Does it have a negative effect on the relationship between internal audit and the rest of the organization?

This subject has been debated many times in the past and I was not planning on addressing it again. However, I thought I should address the reader's comment and the concerns of those who are offended by the term!

Many Internal Auditors believe it is an issue from the past. They believe internal auditors have already moved on and started to use "customer " and "client" instead of "auditee"! Others think it is the right term to use as it reflects what internal auditors do. They think we should call things as they are, not as people would like it to be. They object to the window dressing of the term "auditee"!

 Anyway, is the term "customer" or "client " the right term to use just because somebody said so?

Some internal auditors have suggested alternative terms such as process owners, benefactor, improvement partner and subject, in addition to client and customer

A
blog by Richard Chambers written a few years ago commented on this as follows:

"Auditee" is old-school.
A few years back, people undergoing an audit were most often referred to as "auditees." Today, many experts believe that the phrase has negative connotations and that "auditee" implies someone who has something done to them by an auditor. Internal audit has become a collaborative process, and terms such as "audit client" and "audit customer" indicate that we are working with management, not working on them.

As far as I am concerned, a healthy and professional relationship that adds real value to the organization is what matters at the end of the day regardless of "terms" used.

 Please share your thoughts.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Takeaways from my 2023 ethics CPEs

 As you are aware, licensed CIA's are required to take at least two hours of training in the field of ethics. I have just completed mine...