Beyond Audit

CHAPTER 1What Happened

THINK BACK FOR A MOMENT. Do you even remember the beginning of the year 2020, which started with such promise? You probably made a couple of New Year's resolutions. Maybe it was something about your weight, exercise, or even your job. At work maybe you made a commitment to improvement. This was going to be your year – you were going to seek opportunities to lead jobs, take a leadership position, and maybe even get promoted. No matter what goals you set for yourself, you were certain you knew what you needed to do and how you were going to get there. You had a plan.

The one factor every person has to consider when making a plan is to ensure that all possible and potential roadblocks to achieving the goals are identified and considered. Now, while there is no way to consider, document, and explain every reader's personal goals, I can definitely speak on the objectives of an audit department. For more than three decades, I have been a team member in an internal audit department and/or partnering with them to create the most effective and efficient internal audit operation. And while each department is unique, the methods, direction, discipline, execution, and oversight of the operation remains the same. So, let us focus on the audit department and how they entered the year with a plan and an energetic team filled with optimism.

In the same vein that an individual would set yearly goals, so does the audit function. The chief audit executive meets with the ...