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When the race to land a man on the moon heated up in the 1960s, NASA’s efforts almost ground to a halt because of a problem no one had thought of.
How do you write in zero gravity?
Pens rely on gravity to pull ink to the nib. In orbit, they stopped working. So, the Americans did what Americans do. They threw money at an over engineered solution.
The result was the “space pen”, a pressurised marvel that could write upside down, underwater, in extreme heat and cold. It defied physics (and budget approval).
Meanwhile, the Soviets? They did what they do.
They stood back and thought logically. There was no budget. No breakthrough. Just a brutally effective answer to the actual problem of writing in space.
They took pencils.
Over the years that story has taken on a life of its own. No-one really knows if NASA spent millions on a pen, and eventually, both sides used the same commercially available space pen. But the point still stands for a good reason.
They both got the job done, but one side innovated with clarity, while the other over-complicated things and spent more time and money than was needed.
And that’s the trap we see too often in audits.
A partner hears “audit innovation” and the next week the firm’s signed up to a six-figure enterprise licence of some one-size-fits all software. Nobody really knows how it works. Everyone spends more time onboarding than auditing. Engagements slow to a crawl and the only thing accelerating is costs.
Meanwhile, another firm across town is automating their file prep with simple, dedicated workflow solutions.
They’ve added a toolbar to Excel that catches errors before the manager’s review, and they’re saving twenty minutes per working paper. Not because they bought something expensive, but because they chose the right tool for their problem.
This week’s rule is “Get the right tools”.
Audit innovation doesn’t mean building the space pen. It means knowing when a pencil will do.
Start by mapping your real process. Not the one in the manual, but the one you actually slog through in the hard yards on an audit.
Find the clunky bits.
When you hear someone swear under their breath, stop them and ask what just happened. Then look for tools that smooth those moments out.
The solution doesn’t need to be fancy. You don’t need a tech stack that glows in the dark. You just need your team to stop wasting energy on stuff that should be automatic.
Sound difficult?
Because I’d swear that is exactly what The Audit Toolbar does.
Regards,
Christiaan.
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Enhance your Excel with this powerful add-on, designed to make your audit work faster and more efficient.
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