I have been somewhat retired for a few years now. I have my speaking and training engagements, the occasional consulting project, some mentoring of individuals and organizations, and my writing. They keep me reasonably busy along with bridge and yoga.
But the church that I and my wife attend (she’s the member since I am not a Christian) has asked us to perform an internal audit. We are happy to do that for them (donating our time).
The audit will take some extended period of time. The financial and administrative staff are all part-time; some of the committee members I need to talk to are still working; I have only so much of my time to give to the work; my wife is very busy; and we will be leaving on a trip part-way through. In addition, the scope I have defined is not small: financial accounting and related internal controls; IT security and contingency planning; the adequacy of insurance; tax reporting; cash management; and more.
If I were to adopt an Agile (big “a”) audit approach, I might divide the audit into sprints. Perhaps each would address some part of the scope of work, and at the end of each sprint I would meet with church staff and leaders to discuss the results of that part of our work and obtain feedback on what lies ahead. There would be a report at the end of the audit that covers the…
