Once, I overheard someone telling an uninvolved third party that I had "given" them something in relation to my work. I am unwilling and unable to repeat the exact language used because the extensive use of argot would make it difficult for someone outside the organization to understand, but it was the equivalent of: "He gave us a clean bill of health."
A word of caution... I am a professional auditor. I report: "No deficiencies noted." That means that I didn't note any problems, not that no problems exist.
"No deficiencies noted." is the very best result of an audit you can hope for. This is because a professional auditor is providing independent, objective oversight to your organization, and his time, like yours, is limited. He cannot possibly evaluate every single aspect of your organization without causing him to lose independence and objectivity and hence become a liability.
And a professional auditor most certainly does not "give" you anything, let alone "a clean bill of health." Barring outright fraud, there's usually something wrong with the way you work. In my experience, there's always something wrong. Typical findings include:
Information flow between management and employees is one-way, or employees are inundated with Too Much Information (TMI).
Organizations produce TMI when they are unable to differentiate between information having little value to employees from information having real value to employees.
For example, I once worked for a company which broadcast volunteer opportunities to everyone in the global address book (13,000 employees), but didn't tell those same employees that a parking lot would be closed for resurfacing until the day after it had happened, eliminating approximately one thousand high-demand parking spaces with no warning or notice to its workforce whatsoever and causing a huge number of absences as employees called in sick or took the day off because they were unable to find a place to park.
For example, two employees read the same instruction and apply it to the same process or product, with two different results.
For example, a company licenses new accounting software which the vendor promises will save money. However, in addition to license fees, the vendor hopes to generate additional revenue from training, printed materials, etc. Without this training, the promised savings are never realized. Payroll employees who have not received any training, formal or otherwise, are virtually crippled and unable to do their jobs effectively.
As the number of interfaces between organizational entities proliferate, the probability of one or more of the above problems occurring increases1. The probability that the problem will intersect areas within the scope of the audit, and be noted, also increases.
Therefore, when auditing large organizations, an auditor is more interested in ensuring that the client has a plan in place to identify and correct problems when they occur, not in demonstrating that problems do not exist2.
Because problems are guaranteed to occur, the very best result of an audit is: "No deficiencies noted." It would be criminal to give the client the impression that "No deficiencies noted." means that no problems exist.
Copyright © 2008 - 2011 Jason Clair Allen
Last updated: Thursday, 28 July, 2011