Mind of Jacka: Look At Us!
Mind of Jacka Mike Jacka, CIA, CPA, CPCU, CLU Oct 03, 2024
Jimmy Breslin was a journalist — a famous journalist. Among other accomplishments he wrote a column for the New York Daily News for most of his life. One of his most famous columns was written after the JFK assassination, focusing on the events occurring in the Parkland Memorial Hospital emergency room in Dallas where Kennedy was brought that fateful afternoon. The piece is titled “A Death in Emergency Room One,” and it is powerful and moving and I would suggest you find a copy to see what excellent writing, reporting, and journalism is all about. (You can find a nice collection of his writing in a volume that is put out by the Library of America: Essential Writings - Library of America (loa.org))
One reason the piece is so powerful is that the reporter is not part of what is being reported. And, as you read more of Breslin’s columns, you realize he maintains a sense of immediacy without addressing the journalist in the room. The author is not present in the articles. Those articles are all about what they are about, not about what the reporter is doing or saying.
It is the best kind of journalism. And it is what all journalists, columnists, and authors should strive for. But it doesn’t always happen.
Which brings us to internal audit.
While every internal audit department should be important within the organization, there is one place where their importance should take a backseat to everything else. That is in the audit report. When it comes to what is being reported, the report is more important than the reporter.
But if you read the variety of reports internal auditors issue, you will consistently see reports talking about “internal audit did this” and “internal audit did that” and “internal audit did the other” and “Look at us; we’re internal audit, and we are an important part of this story; look, look, look at us!”
No, that last one is never actually written. But the focus on “we” so often encountered in our audit reports means “look at us” is definitely implied.
When I worked for Farmers Insurance Internal Audit, there was only one time — one time! When the audit department was referenced. This was in the opinion statement. We wrote something to the effect of, “In our opinion, controls are good/bad/indifferent/none of the above.” It was our opinion, so we were present.
But we did not appear anywhere else. We didn’t say “internal audit interviewed…” We didn’t say “internal audit picked a sample of…” We didn’t say “internal audit was so knee-deep in this work that you better pay attention to what we did.”
What internal audit does isn’t important. Your readers don’t care. All they want is the information.
And much like Jimmy Breslin (or any reporter), you do not need to be present in the report. Do the work, prove the work, and then let the work stand for itself.
Note: My first draft of this piece was riddled with “I”s. It is the way I write. But I thought I’d take a lesson from what I’d written and try and pull all of that out. Does it make it more powerful? I don’t know. But I know for sure that the focus changes. And I know for sure that, in this last note, I used nine “I”s. Whoops. Make that 11.