Considering the Topic of Auditing

What about auditing? It’s important, right? In the business world, because audits cost money and interfere with business as usual, we only audit what we care about. What are you not doing that you are supposed to do? What did you do that you were not supposed to do? What did you do wrong or poorly? Nobody wants to be audited.  It's a necessary evil.


My opinion is that the quality (value) of the audit depends on the abilities, knowledge, and motivation of the auditor. Any work I do might be audited. Once a quarter, my boss is required to randomly select a change ticket I completed and audit it. Does this make me do better work? Probably so, but will he really be able to judge the actual quality of my work? Probably not. At best, he can compare my tickets to others he has to audit. He knows very little about what I do; I’m sure he has no interest in what I do other than if I don’t do what I’m supposed to do, he’s going to get blamed for it. Perhaps that is what audits are really all about….finding somebody or something to blame.

Do I want to do a dissertation study on auditing? Safety audits. Are they about finding someone or something to blame? I should hook up with somebody in the trenches to discuss it. Perhaps I can be inspired.

Split infinitives….I excel at splitting infinitives. Sometimes it just doesn’t sound good without splitting the infinitive. Maybe I can’t write well because people around me don’t talk well…as for me…if I never had to open my mouth again that would be fine! Which is best?

A. My boss is required randomly to select….

B. My boss is required to select randomly….

C. My boss is required to randomly select…

Correct answer??? Definitely not C, but that’s what sounds best to me. I don’t know the correct answer, but I’m quite certain my professors would not hesitate to inform me if I guessed wrong (and penalize me accordingly).