Do any of you guys work for companies that get audited?

[Eurodriver]

How do you feel about external auditors? Do they get in your way? Do you respect or resent them?
What could they do better that would ease the lives of everyone?

I'm speaking mainly about larger publicly traded companies with Big 4 audits, but really any company that has an outside firm come in and render an opinion on the financial statements.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts and opinions.

[montanadave]

Last time I recall an external audit, they brought in some "pros from Dover" from an outfit called Arthur Anderson. I wonder whatever became of those guys?

[Eurodriver]

Last time I recall an external audit, they brought in some "pros from Dover" from an outfit called Arthur Anderson. I wonder whatever became of those guys?

They are probably now pros at EY, KPMG, PWC, Or Deloitte. ;)

[markm]

Our audits are always with newbie accountants fresh out of school. They're generally clueless and just working off a list. It's a pain in the ass training them.

[SeriousStudent]

(A) How do you feel about external auditors?

(B) Do they get in your way?

(C) Do you respect or resent them?

(D) What could they do better that would ease the lives of everyone?


(A) They are an absolutely necessary thing, but they only keep honest people honest. Bad people will still fool them. Think Keating, Skilling, et al. But those morons gave us GLBA/SOX/etc.

(B) About as much as people driving 10 miles an hour below the speed limit in the left-hand lane.

(C) See answer B above.

(D) Know their shit. One of my undergrad degrees is in accounting, with an emphasis on fraud detection and financial controls. When we disagree about something, and I ask for a cite or case law, do not tell me "Because I said so." I didn't like hearing that when I was 10 years old, and I like it even less 50 years later. Know my stuff better than I know your stuff.

[Abraham]

I can tell you our "internal auditors" were ineffective.

How do I know?

Our chief engineer was corrupt and stealing from the company.

I pointed it out to one of our internal auditors when they came in for a month or so of auditing.

I cued him in on the particulars.

He looked like a "deer in the headlights" and whispered he could do nothing about it.

Gutless puke...

[chuckman]

We get auditors in several variations: financial, staffing/manpower, clinical. They get in the way, and I resent the **** out of them. Why? They come in with an objective but do not, cannot, understand the culture, nor do they take the time to understand the way we do the things we do. I DO understand that they (the financial auditors specifically) show up with the prime directive of improving efficency/decreasing costs, which I am all for, but the manner in which they do it just builds walls between the proletariat and management, then management doesn't understand why people quit.