Audit is losing value in the eyes of our clients. It's becoming a commodity. That decline in value corresponds to a lack of relevance. Business moves fast today, so how relevant is a set of financials for Dec. 31, 2018, that was issued on May 24, 2019? Almost half the year is gone. Relevance is one of the attributes of a framework for audit leadership that I've developed over the years. The other attributes are business-mindedness, quality, innovation and empowerment. You've got to have leadership actually believe that audit is relevant. And leadership needs to communicate and create actions that support that relevance. You also need to teach your staff how to make an audit relevant. To be relevant, audit needs to zero in on the intersection of what you think is important and what your clients are interested in. No surprise, but your clients don't care about the same things you do, and in many instances wouldn't even get an audit if it weren't required by a user like their banker.
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