Stream of Consciousness
"I could have read this months ago" Last July I sent a promising mac.appstorm article to my Instapaper queue. Its title? “ReadNow: Native Instapaper and Read it Later Management” I just recently read it … and after having read it, I acted on it immediately. But I could
Stream of Consciousness
The opposite of a bad system I recently read this statement, and I can't remember where I read it. It goes "The opposite of a bad system isn't chaos. It's a good system." The statement got me thinking about the fallacy inherent
Stream of Consciousness
I don't usually link to articles where the author or referrer has done a great job explaining why the article or the post is relevant. This one comes by way of John Gruber at Daring Fireball and is a reference to a Forbes article on Roger Martin'
Stream of Consciousness
Risk based internal audit planning The IIA's standards require us to prepare a risk based internal audit planning. However, if risk assessment and management is not (yet) embedded in your organization, it requires a concerted effort from the auditees to provide you with the relevant information. Given this
Stream of Consciousness
The popularity of audit assessments An audit assessment is like an audit, but not really. It takes less time, costs less and is executed by people referring to themselves as experts in a subject matter. These assessments are becoming rather popular. And that evolution is worrying to a “traditional” internal
Stream of Consciousness
the conference I just spent most of the day in a conference on public sector internal audit. At the end of the conference, a well considered panel touched on several aspects, including the aspect of single audit. And as usual, the discussion touched on the feasibility and the need for
Stream of Consciousness
Workflows are about optimizing your personal process Developing workflows have the advantage of allowing you to optimize your work process. This will allow you to become more efficient in the future. The disadvantage then is that you need to invest the time now. And workflows take some time to develop.
Stream of Consciousness
Minding the buzz-word "Single audit" has been the word of the year in the audit professions for a while. Especially in public sector, auditees have been complaining about the enormous charge of work which brings no immediate added value to the table. In some cases, up to four
Stream of Consciousness
What audit is about Most of us familiar with the (internal) audit profession know what it is about. I’m not rehashing the excellent definition of the Institute for Internal Auditors. As auditors we need to use our independence to objectively gather, analyse and test facts and figures on the
Stream of Consciousness
It’s not (just) about independence The IIA recently released a paper on this IPPF on independence and objectivity. Independence is sometimes used by internal auditors or organizations executing the internal audit function as an argument to motivate a distance from the organization they’re auditing. And while independence is
Stream of Consciousness
Encountering the resistance There’s in inherent fear in most, if not all of us. I used to define it as laziness, but I understand now that’s not what it is. It’s fear. Sometimes hidden, sometimes very barely concealed, freezing fear. Sometimes it beacons you to walk away
Stream of Consciousness
I just passed by this vintage Macintosh in the window of a small repair shop close to my office in the center of Brussels. It appears to be sitting there, very important and proud, on top of the display case. Old tech is wonderful. I wanted to share it ...