Internal auditors are afraid of crossing the line and impairing their independence and objectivity.
That’s fair enough, as long as judgement is used as to what those terms really mean and where the line lies.
My friend Mike Jacka has written eloquently about this and I agree with everything he has to say in NOT a Declaration of Independence.
Some of the examples he shares are right on point. I have seen similar situations where internal auditors acted in a way that I call downright silly!
- I remember one CAE saying he had to use his own analytics software, not the company’s, to preserve his independence.
- Another refused to accept a Vice President title because it made him sound like he was part of the management team.
- Several over the years have told me that their job is to find problems and make recommendations for management response. Independence prevents them from sitting down with management, figuring out and then reporting agreed action items instead of recommendations.
- Some have even told me that independence prevents them for relying on management’s risk assessment – to any degree.
Objectivity, the leaders of the profession will tell you, is the more important of the two words. But independence is still necessary – as long as we are clear what it means. It doesn’t mean that we can’t…
