Integrity In Auditing Profession

Integrity. A core building block fundamental to the successes of any professional in this world. Yet, what does it truly mean and how does it apply to internal auditing profession??

In the simplest form, integrity is described as ‘doing the right thing when no one is watching’. It requires courage to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences will be. Integrity is real when it stays in place whether the test is adversity or prosperity. As famously said - “Lose your wealth and you have lost nothing, lose your health and you have lost something, lose your integrity and you have lost everything”.

People often ask me the secret to the success of my consultancy in such a short period? How do we deal with competition? The simple answer

It provides the basis for reliance on their judgment. They deal with issues that are fundamentally important to the survival and prosperity of the organization that they work for. Internal auditors identify ways to save significant sums of money for their organization, guard its reputation in the marketplace, detect inefficient spending, fraud, and non-compliance with laws or regulations. If the principle of integrity is compromised while conducting an internal audit, it will fail to deliver its true value to the relevant stakeholders.

In the current environment, integrity is not discussed or acknowledged nearly enough. “The end justifies the means” has become acceptable to far too many. It could be argued that a person could achieve one’s desired result with or without following the principle of integrity, perhaps, in the latter case, with greater speed and ease. Yet, there is a heavy price to be paid for the lack of integrity and the consequences are far reaching. The person loses the most important thing -

Delivering high-quality work each time while concentrating on every detail and providing solutions to the problems without covering bad news is an external manifestation of an internal auditor’s integrity.

5. Focus on fixing processes rather than blaming the people, and also work through channels to maintain the integrity of reporting.

Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said it best: “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first one, the other two will kill you.”

I have realized a very important thing in my professional career of 30 years - honest employees and vendors are the greatest assets of the company. They build the reputation of an organization, which is priceless. It takes a lot of perseverance, dedication and a strong set of moral values to keep raising the bars of one’s standards of integrity. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have”. So, use integrity to be the light that illuminates everything in the internal auditing