In the movie II Postino, the scruffy postman falls in love with the most beautiful young woman in town. His prospects of winning her affection seem hopeless and in desperation, he asks the famous romantic poet what he should say to the woman or how he can speak to her. The poet answers "Metaphors."
Metaphors are indeed powerful. Organizational theorist, Gareth Morgan's excellent book, Images of Organization, shows how imagining an organization as a brain, and then imagining the same organization again as a machine, and as an organism, and as a computer and so on helps us gain a deeper and better understanding of the organization. Each of the metaphors for the organization highlights certain aspects of it and casts others into the background. While some metaphors seem to capture more of the essence of the particular organization being considered and to explain more of its functioning, none is complete in the understanding it provides.
Alan Ash comments in the ALGA interview in this issue about the perception of the auditor as "paid snitch" and the image of "junkyard dogs" that his audit shop had, and how they're working to change that image. Other common metaphors for auditors that we've all heard and used are "watch dogs" and "consultants". But as in Morgan's book, none of these metaphors captures exactly what we are. Each does, however, help us understand and explain what we do. A metaphor that I like lately is "editor". As every good writer needs an editor, every good manager needs an auditor.
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Funkhouser on Auditing