Two years ago, while still a public health researcher, I was offered a position with the Toronto Auditor General’s Office as an Audit Project Manager, and now seems an appropriate time to carry out a little self audit that might prove useful to share with others.

I had worked in public health with the City of Toronto for more than a decade. My undergraduate and graduate training included such subjects as occupational and public health, community epidemiology, and quantitative and qualitative research.

My first contact with the Auditor General’s Office had been, ironically, from the perspective of an “auditee” when my previous department was audited by the Office. At the time I could not help noticing the similarities between “audit” and “program evaluation”, the latter being an area in which I have some experience and considerable interest.

I was glad that the job call from the Auditor General’s Office did not restrict applications to those with formal auditing or accounting training. Later, I learned that this was an attempt by the Office to expand its pool of expertise in response to the increasing focus on operational audits.

It was a surprise to all of my former colleagues and myself when I was offered the job by the Auditor General’s Office. Despite knowing that there would be many challenges ahead, I was thrilled by the opportunity and bravely marched on into the “unknown”.

One of my earlier challenges as an auditor was to un-learn or more accurately re-define certain concepts and terms from my previous training. For example, many of the terms used in quantitative research are “framed” differently in audit language - a “purposeful sample” in quantitative research is called a “judgemental sample” in audit, a “study method” is now a “work program”, and “reference material” is now a “working paper”.

Due to some scheduling conflicts, I missed a couple of formal audit training opportunities in the early months. I tried to learn as much and as fast as I could from my participation in various projects and from the senior audit staff in my office. Although a lot of information and techniques were acquired on a project by project basis I felt I still lacked a comprehensive understanding of what internal audit was about.

My first breakthrough occurred about ten months into my job when a 4-day training course designed for new auditors was offered by Canada’s Treasury Board Secretariat in conjunction with the Ottawa Chapter of The Institute of Internal Auditors. I found the training extremely useful and valuable; for the first time I was systematically introduced to the principles, framework and processes of internal audit. All of the bits and pieces that I had learned in the past months finally began to make sense. By the end of the training, I felt as if I had just undergone an “awakening” in my understanding of internal audit.

I soon found out that having a job title containing the word “audit” inevitably generates certain expectations from others. On a number of occasions, I was stopped by people whom I barely knew asking for my assistance in either solving their financial problems or filing their income taxes. Even after my earnest effort to explain my background or lack thereof, I could still see signs of bewilderment on their faces.

But my lack of an accounting background did present some serious challenges in my new career as an auditor. Although I was not involved in financial audit, I soon realised that reviewing budgetary data and other financially-related information is a standard procedure in many operational audits. One of my recent projects involved a review of a department’s accounting process. At the beginning of the project, I attended a meeting with the accounting supervisor of the department. After the meeting ended, I was extremely relieved that my senior manager (who also attended the meeting and was in charge of the project) did not ask me to prepare the summary discussion notes for the meeting. I did not have a clue what the accounting supervisor was talking about.

My lack of accounting background also became a major obstacle in my pursuit of Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) qualification. Instead of focusing on the actual study material, I found myself spending most of the time struggling with the accounting terms. I knew at the time that I had to “bite the bullet” and pick up a text book again. I quickly registered myself in an introductory accounting course which turned out to be very timely and useful in performing the audit work for the project. It also made preparation for the CIA examination much easier.

Based on my limited experience as an auditor in a relatively large municipal government, I have learned that a good auditor, regardless of his/her training and background, must possess certain essential skills and characteristics. These include clear and logical thinking, attention to detail, good analytical and communication skills, and being fair and objective. These are skills that can be acquired and developed in professions other than auditing and accounting. It therefore makes sense for audit shops to include people from other professions in accordance with the needs of projects they plan to perform.

Hiring “non-traditional” professionals as auditors will initially require certain levels of “investment” from an audit shop. The most important is provision of both on-the-job and structured training opportunities such as workshops or short-term courses. As to when that structured training should take place, this may be dependent on the individual’s style of learning. For me, I tend to learn best when I have established some reference points from exposures to the new subject prior to receiving the formal training. Other people may prefer to take the training sooner depending on their learning style. Of course the availability of the training course and work schedule are other factors in the equation. The bottom line is that some form of structured training in internal audit will likely be needed and it should take place probably within the first year.

For the new auditor, a commitment to acquire new skills and knowledge, and willingness to adjust and adapt where necessary would give a healthy start to the new career. Knowledge in basic accounting would be beneficial in performing audit work, and essential if the individual desires to pursue qualifications in internal auditing or its related areas. This may require taking supplementary courses/training on personal time.