Thursday Sept 29,  2016

Have you read at least one Sherlock Holmes short story?

I believe there is a great deal to be learned by studying the practices and methods of the famous detective.

Arthur Conan Doyle published the stories from  10891-1927.  He even killed off the detective only to have readers clamor for more stories, so he came back from the dead!

Unlike the fiction novels and so many movies today the stories were written at the end of the Victorian era. Hence little to no violence, at least involving Holmes. And there were certainly no racy scenes or vulgar language.  The violence is more likely to have occurred during the crime he is investigating.

Instead the appeal of the story was Holmes' investigative technique of deductive reasoning and observation. At the time deductive reasoning was being adopted by Scotland Yard, the British equivalent of our FBI. Holmes companion, Dr. Watson, plays the role of every man, continually protesting that there is no way Holmes can defend leaping to yet another uncanny observation, yet he does.

The character has proven so popular that a stage play began as Doyle write the stories. Since then numerous motion pictures have been made but please do not take the current one with Robert Downey Jr.  kung fu  kicking his way to a solution as even remotely representing the stories. In addition modern writers have been hired to create new adventures for the detective, who still operates in his original era.

Now, auditors should exhibit professional skepticism. We gather evidence to support conclusions, A walk through at the client's place of business is standard practice. What will the auditor notice during the walk through?  Details can provide lots of clues as to what might be happening.

Consider the Rita Crundwell case.  Anyone who knows anything about the horse business should have immediately suspected a fraud by Rita. Consider this view of her 'trophy room. 

As we say on the south side, No Way Jose!

There is no way the horse business itself would support that level of success!  As one studies audit crack ups, it is always apparent the auditors were NOT doing their job, not paying attention. Indeed in his book Cleaning Up, Barry Minkow (in jail again as I write) is highly critical of auditors just walking around checking off boxes on a numbered list.

Yet no one questioned HOW SHE DID IT.  In a way this is a parallel of Bernie Madoff, how was he supposedly producing such fab results, answer, he lied.

So click here of a collection of Holmes Stories.

I suggest you read at least one if you have not enjoyed time with Sherlock.

AND the powers of observation can be extremely useful in an interview. One professional with ATT told me he made his decision about whether to pursue an applicant in the first five minutes. So what can you observe about the person interviewing you that might cause he or she to linger longer with you!   The powers of observation are invaluable in such a situation.

And I suggest you arm yourself with another important resource. It is so important I will make a separate post, nothing like a serial eh, for it. Go to the next post.

Wed Sept 289 2016

Renita Eizaldae comments on the Wednesday Sept 21, 2016 event.

The Member Appreciation Seminar- Linguistic Lie Detection: Words Never Lie but People Do was the second event with the San Antonio chapter of the IIA that I have attended as a student. The event was loaded with information. My understanding of both lie detection and the profession of internal auditing grew by leaps and bounds over the course of the day.

I learned lie detection can be broken down into two parts: gathering information and statement analysis. In regards to gathering information presenter Nejolla Korris’ statement, “We cannot define whether someone is telling the truth or not by our own logic.” has resonated with me. As an auditor I will need to remember that my definitions may not be the same definitions as the person I am interviewing. In statement analysis a key point to remember as an auditor is that “a change in language signals a change in reality”. Changes in tense, pronoun, and time should be viewed as major red flags.

The information shared by my tablemates was invaluable. This time around I had the pleasure of sitting with four HEB internal auditors and two internal auditors from VIA. HEB is currently one of my favorite companies and I was ecstatic with my stroke of luck. I spent the lunch break asking questions such as, “how did you chose internal auditing as a specialty in accounting?” and “have you identified practices within your company that could be changed to benefit the company?”. I was in the presence of CPA’s, CIA’s, CGAP’s, and a CISA; everyone was gracious and shared their reasons and experiences in both education and in the profession.

Overall the time and dollars used to attend the seminar were well spent. I picked up new skills in lie detection and learned about the internal auditing profession in a way I haven’t in class. I made sure to bring my business cards as encouraged by Dr. Elam. I couldn’t help saying “you get a card, you get a card, everybody gets a card” as I handed them out to my tablemates. I felt like Sherlock Holmes and Oprah Winfrey within the span of a few hours and I left the seminar feeling excited about my future in accounting.