Reflections on a Decade of Audit

As the last pages of the calendar year are turned I have always found that a contemplative mindset visits begging to act as juror on the events – good and bad – of the recent past. 

This year – at the turn of the decade (or is it … a debate for another time and minds greater than mine) – I thought I would pass my humble observes these last ten years.

My overall impression is that those amongst us that consider ourselves worthy of the title of audit professionals remain in one of the most privileged roles in an organisation. 

Through moments of high drama, low profitability, ethical challenges and integrity role models we have the proverbial ring side seat to the action. 

It is a position that few others are gifted.

Being so fortunate then demands of us that we critically examine where we can do better.

For this correspondent there are three main areas that I leave the decade wondering whether we gave it our best.

Firstly it is the intellectual advancement of the profession. 

As a proxy take any audit conference program from 2009 (and indeed the decade before) and compare it to today’s conference agenda. 

We are still discussing breathlessly as if anew each and every time the same concepts – “be a trusted advisor” – that we have been analysing now for a generation.

Either we as a profession are at the absolute peak of where we need to be and hence don’t need to push the boundaries of thought like other professions do or we are intellectually lazy. 

I doubt it is the first and hope that it is not the second.

Secondly is our profession’s exploitation of surely the most over marketed phrase of this new century – big data. 

Assurance has always been based on analysis of data. 

The concept of analytical effort therefore is not new. 

What we have struggled to understand is where in the 21st Century data eco-system we actually sit.

As a result of our uncertainty we have too often been seduced by the scent of the charlatan’s next trick promising a new audit paradigm that is nothing more than fool's gold.

Thirdly is that we need to be better story tellers. 

I recently did a survey of how audit reports have been presented across time and country and save for the introduction of some colour in some reports the presentation of our widget is the same as it was when word processing was introduced.

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None of these challenges are insurmountable.

They do, however, require bravery in thought; courage in execution and resilience in determination.

I therefore enter the next decade excited – in the immortal words of one of the founders of the concept of independent assurance – to be able continue to live out the creed that we may

“honestly lay bare to the proprietors the true condition of the undertaking”.