Selecting Internal Auditors for Internal Audits

Selecting internal auditors for performing internal audits needs to be done with a lot of due diligence and a lot of care.

It is a fact that many a times you have to make someone an internal auditor for reasons that have nothing to do with the person's competency.

When someone incompetent is imposed on a department from above because he is a pet stooge of the top dog, he or she needs to be made an internal auditor.

The stooge being a part of the auditors pool will ensure the top dog doesn't get the chance to say that "we don't have good auditors".

After all his pet stooge is a part of the auditors pool.

What kind of people should not be made auditors?

The above is a good question so that the "bad particles" are filtered out.

This filtering doesn't apply to the stooges though.

Avoiding following types of people when selecting internal auditors will go a long way in  making the audit process professional and objective:

• Avoid people who don't come on time but expect others to be there when they come in
• Avoid people who create nuisance before and after the audit
• Avoid people who come with preconceived biases
• Avoid people who carry a condescending attitude towards other auditors and auditees 
• Avoid people who don't prepare and share auditor notes promptly
• Avoid people who have serious behavioural issues
• Avoid people who lack motivation and energy to act as auditors

In addition to that, it is a good idea to know which auditors should be allocated for auditing which areas and which not.

Like the pet stooges are unfit to be selected as an auditor for several areas. 

It is better to assign them to audit areas that are manned by other pet stooges.

The audits done by the pet stooges will not be effective as the stooges are the insiders and will not want to bring up anything that the peer stooge doesn't want to be highlighted.

Internal audits can go a long way in helping a professional organization introspect and improve on its internal processes and practices.

In case an organization has too many people who are not fit to be auditors, especially at senior levels when they are expected to be mature and sound, it is clear warning sign.

There are undoubtedly deep-rooted cultural issues in such companies.

They are everything but professional.

They are actually "Lala" set-ups!

If the top man in such organization is not aware of this then he is totally incompetent and if he knows but doesn't care he is a partner in crime.

He is perhaps the biggest Lala of all. The king of Lalas.

His pet stooges being the other Lalas.

In fact, he would the prime suspect for things to have reached such a state.

After all, everything that has happened or is happening is under this man's watch.

If that be so, doing internal audits and findings internal auditors will remain a vexing challenge in such organizations.

In case you happen to be the unfortunate one who is supposed to take care of internal audits in such an organization be prepared to handle shit.

Get ready for a ride in the hell!

And yes, tighten your seat belt.