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THE INTERNAL AUDITOR: FROM WATCHDOG TO PARTNER
The “watchdog only” phenomenon to the “effective partner” phenomenon
The internal audit role within the work place has for many years been viewed mainly as a policing
role meant, to instill intimidation and fear within the very institutions it seeks to serve.
According to Richard Chambers and Paul McDonald (The Institute of internal auditors),
“Partnership” represents another broad term that Chief Audit Executives prize, and they seem
eager to distill the concept into more tangible descriptions and examples.
Effective partnering (and Chief Audit Executives emphasize that the objective of effective or “good”
partnering is to ensure the best outcomes for the business) also requires the ability to spot and
share best practices. Inspiring partners to adopt best practices requires change-management skills.
One of the myths he regularly tries to dispel is that internal audit is a "police function". He argues
that in reality, the best auditors are those who create a rapport with audit customers. Breaking
down this stereotype is so important that most internal audit groups actively encourage clients to
think of internal audit as a coach, not a cop.
How would an audit team change the “watchdog only” phenomenon to the “effective partner”
phenomenon?
During my short stint an assistant internal auditor, our new member to the audit team, Caroline
was recruited as, the Internal Audit manager of our company .She had been working with a
multinational company for many years and had just landed the new job with the company. As
anyone can imagine, this was a very exciting moment for her. Our boss, the Director of Internal
audit, a very experienced auditor himself, was equally excited to get such an experienced and
qualified member of staff on his audit team. He had been working hard to expand his audit team of
five auditors to ten auditors. Indeed, he was eager to induct Caroline into her new role to enable her
undertake her tasks effectively.
Caroline expected to receive the same high level of support that had been accorded to her in her
previous company, and by her new team as well.
After a week in her new workplace, she began undertaking the end-of-year Inventory audit. This
involved visiting the Inventory section of the company to perform audit tests and record findings.
On the material day, she got a hostile welcome from the Inventory manager, who until then had
been quite friendly. “Welcome, Caroline” she said, albeit half-heartedly. Caroline further took note
of the awkward silence that suddenly engulfed the ever noisy section of the company.
The staff at the Inventory section immediately fixed their eyes to their laptop screens and started
typing furiously as if they expected a bonus for their output in the next hour. As she walked through
the section with the inventory manager, Caroline could hear murmurs from behind her, at one point
a voice asked, loud enough for her to hear, “What do these auditors want from us now? We’re kind
of busy….”

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Nevertheless, Caroline who had a passion for her work had a job to do and she proceeded with
conducting the audit as was expected of her. She knew the exercise was essential. The Company had
been experiencing a massive decline in income and if the trend continued, there was a major risk of
collapse.
The audit report summary was finally ready, and among the key findings were poor maintenance of
the company’s inventory, theft of inventory from the inventory section among other notable
findings.
As was practice in the company, management implemented the recommendations of the audit
report, this included the change of the inventory maintenance practices by the inventory section
and strong internal control and governance measures to safeguard the loss of the expensive
inventory among other recommendations.
In spite of the obvious distrust and reluctance to cooperate by staff members of the inventory
section, Caroline’s determination to conduct the audit of the inventory section had contributed
effectively to the streamlining of operations in the inventory section and in the next financial year,
the management was elated to report a significant increase in sales which signified a major
turnaround for the company’s growth. This to me is an example of how an auditor can overcome
the challenges of being perceived as a watchdog only to being perceived as an effective partner
whom a company can partner with to achieve corporate objectives. In summary, I would say It’s
this simple; Despite any critism, whether it is positive or negative, pick yourself up, dust yourself
and do what you know how to do best. Remember, the end result of the entire process is what will
determine your mark as an effective partner.
How can an institution change the “watchdog only” phenomenon to the “effective partner”
phenomenon?
 Involve the auditor in your activities and treat the auditor as a key partner who can enable you
meet your objectives. Of course some would argue that this may be difficult as some auditors
are somewhat “unapproachable”. I would say this to those with this mindset; “Failure isn’t
fatal, but failure to change might be” – John Wooden
 Appreciate the work done by the audit team before, during and after the audit. I understand
that this may be equally difficult especially if there was a recent audit report placing your
department in the hot spot. But remember, you were employed to that position to play an
important role which is to steer the institution or company. This cannot be done in isolation, it
requires team work. Always remember this; "The strength of the team is each individual
member. The strength of each member is the team." --Phil Jackson
 On those networking platforms, highlight how your audit team has supported your team and
enabled your company achieve certain objectives. Again, this is another hard task to do given
the headaches that auditors may have given you all year round until you missed that much
anticipated holiday. Remember, one of the ways to healthy living is not only to appreciate

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other people but an attribute of great leadership. Appreciating the work of both those you like
and dislike has more pros than cons.
 Give all forms of support to the audit team .The audit team has a job to do just like you and
your team does and therefore just as you would require support, so does the audit team.
Imagine lacking the support to perform your job? What impact would this have on you as an
employee and your company? Even the good book says in Hebrews 10:24; And let us consider
how to stir up one another to love and good works.
 Develop and continuously improve interpersonal relationships with the audit team. These
relationships could go a long way in saving your company from collapse and eventually
maintaining the job that you enjoy doing. One may wonder what for? Is it not the sales team
that develops the best strategies to increase sales? Or is it not the Finance team that sources
for funds for the sustainability of this company? Or Do you remember those auditors who gave
company X a clean bill of health and the company still collapsed similar to the events in the
Enron scandal? Well, I would say this, no institution is perfect but interpersonal relationships
between teams can prevent serious problems from occurring or re-occurring.
Should I consider a Career change to internal audit?
You may have heard a statement like, “Internal auditing has got to be the worst profession in the
world”-
According to me, and many outside the profession may agree that this is not a cliché, it is true, it is
not the easiest profession in the world but I can tell you this, it is very rewarding to see your team’s
recommendations for improvement create value addition to the operations of the company. Don’t
beat yourself too hard because as an auditor, you basically report things as they are or as they have
happened, just like news reporters do. The use of the information received is however entirely up
to the recipient of such information; however it is also important to deliver that information to the
recipient in the most effective way.
The statement; “Internal auditing has got to be the worst profession in the world” could be translated
to “Internal auditing has got to be the coolest profession in the world” but this requires a careful
balance in managing the expectations that come with the profession. In my view, these expectations
if effectively managed can play a crucial role in translating the profession from the worst profession
in the world perception to the coolest profession in the world perception.
Managing the expectations of the profession
 Resistance to change. Let’s be honest, nobody will like change especially if the change works
against their plans to succeed. Audit recommendations may require your company to
implement various changes which may not be everybody’s cup of tea. While making such
recommendations, ensure they are well balanced to minimize resistance to the changes
proposed.

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 Intimidation threat. This is common especially where senior members of management have
vested interests in the company and want to interfere with your team’s independence and
objectivity. In such a scenario, evaluate each activity that gives rise to a threat and develop and
implement a plan based on your professional judgment on how to counter each threat. If for
example, the management wants to alter the disciplinary procedure of the Human resource
policy of the company to be more punitive than corrective, the audit team should attend these
review meetings and interact closely with the service provider responsible for review of the
policy. This may deter the management from altering the document.
Attend continuous professional development programs to gain insights into the ever changing
mindset of the management.
 Resource constraints. This may occur if the company values allocation of resources to other
sections of the company instead of your audit team. Should this arise, think of innovative ways
to conduct your activities with resources already within your reach. If your company policy
allows it, you may also wish to consult the heads of various sections for assistance by
requesting them to share any excess resources currently not in use by them.
 An unsupportive audit committee. One may wonder, does this really happen, I mean isn’t
every audit committee supposed to support the auditor? I would say it does happen especially
where the members have vested interests in the company and you seem to be a bottleneck to
their interests. Where this happens, express your concerns to the Chairman of the board.
REMEMBER these are also your bosses and you will therefore need them to be supportive in
order to perform your role effectively.
 Little or no teamwork. This may occur especially in institutions which do not support their
audit teams because quite frankly they may not see the need to give them support. A clear
strategic approach on how to deal with the problem during audit planning would minimize the
problem. The audit team can obtain team support from other sections of the company by
simply getting involved in the activities of the other sections of the company. What this means
is that, those activities that may require an extra pair of hands by the other sections of the
company but do not interfere with your independence and objectivity can be done by the audit
team to support a particular section. if the company for example conducts a cleaning up
exercise as a CSR activity, your team should get involved to support the CSR team .This is my
view of a simple way of offering your support that could go a long way in your team receiving
equivalent support.
CPA Mercy Bukania , Internal auditor.
marceybukania@gmail.com
The views expressed in this article are solely the views of the writer based on their experience and
do not necessarily represent the views of the profession.