Building a Better Auditor: The Nappy Room Applied to the Boardroom
Blogs Yong Chuan Koh, CIA, CRMA, CFE, CISA Mar 25, 2024
“Good parents make effective internal auditors.” This realization hit me suddenly one evening as I was putting “Junior” to bed after his night feeding. All the lessons I had learned from parenting over the past two years were relevant to the role of an internal auditor. Immediately, I started penning the top lessons learned as I hummed to “Wheels on the Bus,” with Junior dozing next to me.
Lesson 1: Keep it simple and direct.
As a two-year-old toddler, Junior is still learning his first words and uses short phrases like “I want eat” or “Watch TV” to express himself. As parents, my partner and I talk to him in simple words to ensure that we are well understood. For example, it would be more effective to tell him that “You might bump your head if you continue to jump on the bed” instead of “You could sustain a brain concussion and other bodily injuries if you were to pay no heed to my warnings by continuing to jump on the bed.”
While this seems obvious, it is transferable to internal audit. It is crucial that we communicate clearly and effectively to our stakeholders. Communicating in a simple and direct way ensures that the message is consistent and understood. Avoiding jargon in audit reports can minimize confusion, while succinct writing can improve clarity. Just as parents speak in simple words to toddlers, internal auditors who communicate clearly are more likely to find that their message is accepted and acted upon.
Lesson 2: Plan ahead and be flexible.
Toddlers are unpredictable, and parents need to be flexible and be prepared for any situation. I remember one morning when Junior threw a sudden tantrum and spilled his breakfast all over the floor as I was about to leave for the office. It was a messy situation, and I immediately sprung into nanny mode and cleaned up both Junior and the kitchen within 30 minutes. Fortunately, I was still able to reach the office on time because I had built buffer time into my commute schedule. Murphy’s Law holds true for many parents, and it is not uncommon for us to feel exasperated when things are not going as planned (especially if this is played out daily). Nevertheless, it is important to remain calm and be ready to cope with uncertainty and last-minute changes.
Similarly, internal auditors need to demonstrate agile behaviors and be ready to respond to any circumstances. New information might surface during fieldwork and internal auditors should be able to analyze and make decisions quickly based on the facts. Where warranted, internal auditors should be flexible in adjusting the engagement scope and test approaches accordingly. To address contingencies that may arise during the engagement, internal auditors could also include buffer time within the engagement plan to better ensure it can be completed with adequate time and resources. As the saying goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Lesson 3: Stay curious and humble.
At this age, Junior is curious about his surroundings. Coupled with his newfound language skills, he has been asking “Why?” much of the time. When I became a parent, I anticipated being able to easily provide answers to my child’s questions. However, I realized the more trivial the questions, the more I was turning to Google for answers.
“Why the sky blue?”
“Why duck two legs? Why cow four?”
I was slightly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge initially but was comforted to know that many parents face similar situations, after reading their stories on online parenting forums.
This experience also got me reflecting about how we work as internal auditors and how we should always be inquisitive and ready to challenge the status quo. Often, I have seen less-experienced auditors willing to accept the clients’ representation at face value without probing further (even when the responses did not make much sense).
At the same time, we should not be complacent and hold ourselves up as all-knowing just because we have accumulated some experience. Instead, it is important that we continue to work with an open mind and embrace new knowledge. With technology evolving at a rapid pace and expectations of the internal audit profession continuously growing, it is important that internal auditors adopt a growth mindset and be always humble enough to embrace new knowledge. After all, we do not know what we do not know — even if we think the questions sound simple, as in “Why is the sky blue?” (Answer: Because the short waves of blue light from the sun are scattered more than the other colors in the spectrum).
While being a parent to a toddler is no doubt challenging, it has also taught me a lot about being an effective internal auditor. More importantly, I am glad that the skills and experience accumulated in the nappy room can also be applied in the corporate boardroom.