Building a Better Auditor: The Importance of Integrity

I remember slipping off my shoes and burying my toes in the new cream shag. “Wow! This new carpet feels really good,” I recall commenting. Melissa and I had lived around the corner from each other all our lives, and I felt close to her family.

“It’s pretty great, isn’t it? I saw my dad burning holes in our old carpet with a cigar, and then we got this new carpet for free!” she told me.

I remember, clear as day, the terrible feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. Even then, as a 9-year-old, I knew that whatever had happened for Melissa’s family to get new carpet wasn’t honest. After that day I found myself avoiding her parents. As much as I tried, I could never bring myself to think of them in a positive way again.

Having integrity means being able to be relied upon to act honestly and to do the right thing, even when it is difficult, and especially when no one is watching. While operating with integrity is required by the Global Internal Audit Standards and is likely part of your company’s code of conduct, I encourage you to embrace it as part of your personal and professional DNA. Acting with integrity (or not) gives others insight into who you are as a person, and, at a deeper level, what you believe in and value. It is part of your personal brand, whether you mean it to be or not. People know integrity and are drawn to it when they see it; they steer clear when it isn’t present. It is a trait associated with people we all want to work with, leaders we want to work for, and people who we want to be our friends.

Each of us face challenging decisions from time to time, and many of us spend time worrying about how to respond — and then, afterward, if we made the right choice. These decisions get harder when our work is fast-paced, impactful to our companies, and may negatively impact or upset others. When faced with a moral dilemma or difficult decision, no matter how big or small, integrity can guide you to decisions and actions that you are proud of and that allow you to sleep soundly at night.

In a world where we are all striving for a higher level of engagement from our teams, to become better leaders, to more effectively balance our personal and professional lives, and to find joy, I believe integrity is essential. Without it as a guiding principle, I think it is hard to achieve any of these, as you are starting from shaky ground. You can read self-help books and attend educational seminars to better yourself, but I believe growth is only possible when you start from a strong base of honesty, reliability, and trust.

Many important points of view and topics were discussed during the development, review, and implementation of the Global Internal Audit Standards, which went into effect on Jan. 9. All of these discussions were very insightful and important, but one topic stuck out to me the most — integrity. Integrity features in Principle 1 of the Global Internal Standards as a cornerstone of our profession, but I think it is so much more. Operating with integrity has helped make internal audit a very rewarding and highly respected profession — but I believe it is also the key to our own continued happiness and success.