Internal Auditors:What is your marketing Strategy?

Today, I have attended a webinar presented by ISACA entitled:

People-Centric Communications: Marketing Internal Audit & Conflict Management 

 The presenter identified three pillars of internal audit marketing as follows:

1. Consistent Messaging: defining internal audit, focus on objectives and outreach with managers.
2. Continuous Education: Alleviate the fear, Newsletters, Don't use independence as an excuse

     I prefer to re-label this to continuous communication! In fact, the three pillars fall under communication!

     
3.Transparency: Try not to hide anything post the audit plan

The presenter linked marketing internal audit and conflict together by offering the following explanation :

"With the innate fear of the word audit, conflict naturally arises "
　

I do not intend to go through the webinar in detail, but rather I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to share your experience with marketing your internal audit services within your organization.

Do you have a structured marketing strategy?  

What worked and did not work?

More importantly, do you think you should have a marketing plan? I am personally, a strong advocate of marketing and promoting internal audits.I like to think that I was successful at this!

Please share your experience .

　

Internal Audit in 2020 : What the ordinary internal Auditors think?

In the last issue of the Ia magazine, there is an article discussing the future of Internal Audit. The author chose the year 2020 for the prediction of the future and asked the following three questions:

1. What will not change about Internal Audit in 2020?
2. What will?
3. Can you make a prediction based on a current trend, taken to its logical conclusion?

The above questions were directed at seven "thought leaders", who provided their views on the future of Internal Audit. Their answers did not include any surprises or wild predictions!


I am very much interested in the views of the ordinary Internal Auditors! So please share your predictions and thoughts!  

Should corporations have heart?‎

If what Mitt Romney  once told us  is right “Corporations are people “ , then should corporations have heart and act like humans ?
What caused me to ask is that I read in a local newspaper that a cable company is asking an Ottawa man to pay a huge bill for services that stayed active at his house months after it burned to the ground.
The man claims that he has called the company and disconnected the services few days after the fire! The company is not buying this and transferred the case to a collection agency .

The company did not respond to the request of the newspaper (which reported the news) for more information.

Let's assume that the man actually failed to disconnect the service, should the company under these circumstances ,when known to it, still charge him for the service he never received ? Or should it act as a caring human and wave the charges ?

Heart or no heart ,what do you think?

 

 

2014 Horoscope for Internal Auditors !

My fellow Internal Auditors ,here is your monthly horoscope for 2014  :

January :      Pay attention to your IT skills .You still need to improve it !
February:     Work on your soft skills .It is essential for your survival !
March:          Adapt to new regularity environments,or you become irrelevant !
April:             Keep up to date with the necessary skills .
May:              Maintain independence , but be an active partner with management.
June:              It is okay to question why you choose to be an internal auditor !
July:               Integrate fraud detection and prevention into audit strategy.
August:          Align your work with other parties responsible for  risk management .
September:    Always stay objective,no matter what.
October:        Compliance still matters ,don't ignore it !
November:     Communicate,communicate,communicate ...
December:     Get over it, you will never be rich working as an internal auditor !


Wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year .



 

Trust ,but don't be naive !

Today, I have attended IIA's Ottawa training session which focused on Asset Protection and Security( AP & S). Two mantras stuck on my head by the time we were done :

The first is:" AP & S is largely based on trust!"
The second:" Being compliant does not mean being secure "

While I agree with the second, I have trouble with the first!

The examples of trust provided during the session made me more skeptical ( i.e I trust you because A trusts you and I trust A )!

 Trust is good, but it is not enough and certainly does not provide security.

Trust, but verify!
Trust.but monitor!
Trust, but don't be naive!

 In God we trust, others will be audited!

What do you think?

Complimentary high level review of IA Departments !

Does industry specialization limit internal auditors' careers?

Industry specialization is a good thing! This is at least what employers and hiring managers are telling us because it improves audit quality! Not everyone agrees with this, a recent study by the University of Miami published in June 2013 concluded that there is no evidence to support such a claim!

But, is specialization good for internal auditors? Does it limit our career path to certain industries because the perception is, as an example, if you are a bank auditor you can't effectively audit a manufacturing company?

The golden rule is that " you can't audit what you don't understand "! The question here is: does "understanding the operations " of an organization means that you need to be an industry expert? I am personally not sure if this is the case! Understanding the business is the key to a successful audit and this understanding nowadays can be achieved in a relatively short period of time for a willing auditor!

These are my thoughts, please share your thoughts and experience.