Career Skills for
Aspiring Auditors
Beta Alpha Psi
October 24, 2012
Richard Anderson MBA, CPA
Partner (Retired) PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Trustee – IIA Research Foundation
www.theiia.org
Where did this topic
come from?
The question I received from
PwC staff;
“What skills are most
important to develop to
qualify and be successful
at higher levels in the
organization?”
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Agenda
1) Look at skills from two different perspectives;
• Skills Development for You
– Core / Traditional Skills
– How they are evolving
• Skills Now Needed for Higher Levels of Advancement
Expectations of Your Key Stakeholders
2) Some thoughts on managing your career
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First Response – Focus
on Core/Traditional
Audit Skills
•
•
•
•
•
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People Management and Teamwork
Effective Communications
Technical Auditing Skills
Critical Thinking Skills
Business knowledge
Traditional Skills –
Evolving and Changing
IIA’s Audit Executive Center Spring 2012 Survey
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Traditional Skills –
Evolving and Changing
Critical thinking skills
• Most sought after skill in AEC semi-annual
surveys last two years
• Some IA groups are now testing for this
skill
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Traditional Skills –
Evolving and Changing
Business knowledge:
• Consistently one of the top five skills since
surveys were started by the AEC in 2008
• IA groups get this knowledge through a
variety of ways
• “Pre-condition” to enhancing risk
assessments and providing assurance over
risk management
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Traditional Skills –
Evolving and Changing
Technical Auditing Skills:
• Quite likely will include data mining and
data analytical skills going forward as core
technical skills expected of all staff
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Traditional Skills
• What wasn’t on the list?
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Changing View of
Traditional Skills
• They are important “foundational” skills
• Critical to “qualify” for consideration for
upward movement
• However: they are not necessarily the
skills for long term success
• Gets you into the game
• May not be game winners at higher levels
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Career Focused Skills
• Not necessarily new, “undiscovered” skills
• Have a higher significance and premium
because of today’s more complex and more
dynamic world
• These skills demand more than just
awareness;
– Acknowledge the need to master, and
– Actively develop the skills
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Career Focused Skills
All are applicable to auditors seeking
high-level advancement inside or outside of
the profession;
“ Nearly seven in ten CAE’s see internal audit as a
springboard for advancement into other
executive management positions at their own
companies or into a CAE role with greater
auditory at a larger company”
Grant Thornton Chief Audit Executive Survey 2011
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Career Focused Skills
More broad-based, personal
attributes for future development;
•
•
•
•
Adaptability
Continuous Learning
Judgment
Talent and Diversity Management
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Adaptability
Charles Darwin: “……..it’s not the
strongest of species that survives,
nor the most intelligent, but the one
that is most adaptable to change.”
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Adaptability
Def:
•
•
•
The ability to change to fit changed circumstances.
Critical for long term career success
Proactive personal adaptation vs. reactive
Involves taking some personal risk
– Experimentation
– Improvisation
“Future leaders will be people who adapt
their jobs, working styles, and skills to
stay ahead of the curve as they see change
coming.”
Dick Anderson – “Critical Skills for CAE
Success”
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Adaptability
……the ability to
change to fit
changed
circumstances
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CEO with his leadership
team;
Question:
What will the organization
look like in 10 years?
Response:
The only things CEO was
certain of;
• different organization
• different industry
• different business
environment
Adaptability
• A mindset
• A positive perspective on change
• An expectation that we have to continually adapt to take
advantage of the changing environment
• A willingness to take personal risks
– Experiment
– Improvise
“Take control of your career rather than feeling
you are being constantly whipsawed by
change”
– Dick Anderson
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Continuous Learning
Individuals must maintain personal relevance and
capabilities by innovating and investing in
themselves:
•
•
•
How do I continue to distinguish and differentiate
myself?
What capabilities do I need to take advantage of new
ideas and trends?
Where and how do I get the training or education I need
Move away from just a CPE/Compliance mindset to one of continuous,
personal learning.
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Continuous Learning
• Maintaining one’s personal and
professional relevance
• Requires personal commitment
• An enabler of “adaptability”
• More than just “continuing professional
education”
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Continuous Learning
• Recent examples;
– “Cloud” computing
– Social media applications
– Regulatory overload
– “Cybercrime”
– “XBRL”
– “Big data” / “Unstructured data”
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Judgment
• Not a new skill but has become even more
significant
• Complexities of today’s world places a
premium on this skill- “Trusted Advisor”
• Critical for success as an auditor
– Critical issue recognition
– Risk prioritization
– What, and to whom to communicate
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Judgment as a Process
Requires the development
and exercise of good
decision making skills
“…the judgment tendencies and shortcuts
that human beings often rely on can
short-circuit such a process and as a
results, our decisions can be biased.”
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Judgment as a Process
COSO “Enhancing Board
Oversight”
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Judgment as a Process
COSO “Enhancing Board
Oversight”
Common Threats to Good Judgment:
• Rush to Solve: select the first seemingly workable alternative
• Judgment Triggers: an initiating force that triggers a decision
• Overconfidence: leads to under investing in defining the problem,
considering too few alternatives or skipping information
• Confirmation: see and overweigh confirming information
• Anchoring: anchor on initial information without being able to
adjust away from that value
• Availability: limit alternatives or information to what readily
comes to mind
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A Final Comment on
Judgment
• Might be on the verge of another personal
attribute or a variation on the judgment
attribute;
– You also have to be able or have the
courage to speak up and stand
behind the good judgments and
decisions you make
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Talent and Diversity
Management
• The ability to acquire and nurture a diverse
workforce
– A shifting mentality from diversity as “a
good social objective” to something that
is “necessary to conduct business”
• The continuing effects of demographics and
globalization
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Talent and Diversity
Management
Acquire and nurture talent and a diverse
workforce;
• How to acquire talent?
• How to develop talented people?
• How to challenge and reward?
• How to build and operate diverse teams?
• How to retain a talented diverse
workforce?
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Globalization
Related to diversity, but presents new challenges:
• Need to form and operate global teams that may
never actually meet in person
• Motivate people to accept international
assignments
• Recognize and reward staff for working outside
the home country
• Recognize and value nondomestic professional
and academic credentials
• Understand and manage cultural differences
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What are the “skills”
that your stakeholders
expect?
“
A Strategic Player”
Rittenberg & Anderson
• Our attempt to look at CAE
skills through the eyes of the
stakeholders
• Focused on 6 key criteria
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6 key criteria
• Stature and presence
• Understanding of the organization’s
strategy
• Strategic audit focus
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and
communicate clearly on audit issues
• Development of human resources
• Management of technical auditing activities
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Some thoughts on managing
your career
Set long-term goals but manage your career
in “orbits¹”
“Orbits”
• 2 – 5 year increments
• activities that enhance your skills and experiences
• prepares yourself to move to a “higher orbit”
Source: Dr. Alex McKenna, McKenna International
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Some thoughts on managing
your career
Create your own opportunities – Fix a big
mess!
•
best way to
– Gain unique experiences
– Get noticed!
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Some thoughts on managing
your career
Always understand the needs of an employer
or potential employer
•
•
avoid mis-alignment
match with your skills (this is why Dick
was never a capital markets trader!)
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Some thoughts on managing
your career
Constantly challenge yourself;
“What am I bringing to the table?”
• How are you differentiated from your
peers?
• Look at your resume
– Facts vs qualitative attributes
• How do you interview?
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Some thoughts on managing
your career
Understand the role and nature of
compensation
It
•
•
•
is very important to all of us, however;
it is not a long-term motivator
it is a dynamic not a static event
it can be a major reason why a new job
or opportunity does not work out
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Some thoughts on managing
your career
A final rule in managing your career;
• Communicate
•
•
Communicate
Communicate some more!
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“While training and support for personal
development are expected from any good
employer, above all, personal development
is a shared, personal responsibility of each
individual to see to their own development.”
- Dick Anderson
So…………………..
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So…………..Are you preparing
yourself to win the race?
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Q&A
Dick Anderson
312.848.2155
rander37@depaul.edu
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