Every inventor starts with a blank piece of paper and a problem to solve.
Thomas Edison didn’t copy the last guy’s light bulb. That’s not how inventing works.
When James Dyson got fed up with his vacuum cleaner’s pathetic suction power, he didn’t just shrug and buy a new one. Instead, he tore the thing apart and started from scratch.
A blank sheet of paper.
No manual, no instructions, just his own stubborn determination to work through it and find a better way.
The blank sheet of paper meant he wasn’t making any assumptions. He had to think through every stage of the process from scratch.
The result? After 5,127 prototypes (yes, really), Dyson finally cracked it. A bagless vacuum and a permanent spot in household appliance history.
Now imagine if Dyson had just stuck with the old design, tweaking it here and there without ever questioning the basic concept. We’d still be running clunky, inefficient vacuums over messy carpets.
Never questioning the concept sounds wrong, doesn’t it? But auditors do it all the time.
The old “copy-paste” approach. Just reuse last year’s file, update the numbers on the existing template, and call it a day. Sound familiar?
It’s fast and it’s easy, but it’s the perfect recipe for never making any progress.
You never question whether the way you’re auditing makes sense. You never spot inefficiencies because you’re too busy repeating the same thing as last year.
So, here’s the rule. Start from a Clean Slate.
Every year, pick one section of each audit, skip the prior year’s file, and build your procedures from scratch.
Sounds like a lot of work, right?
Sure, it might take a little longer the first time around. But what you get in return is a fresh perspective.
You might discover that you’ve been over-auditing one area while completely missing a risk in another. Or that the way you’re testing revenue is way more complicated than it needs to be.
This isn’t about reinventing the wheel every time for the sake of it. It’s giving yourself a chance to rethink your approach. It’s about continuous improvement rather than just coasting on autopilot and repeating the same old routine.
This is one of the hardest rules for Auditors. They love structure. They love the process. They love efficiency.
But efficient doesn’t mean blindly repeating last year’s file. Real efficiency comes from building smarter, more effective approaches, like Dyson ditching the dust bag.
So next time you’re deep in the weeds of your audit file, stop and ask:
“Am I just going through the motions, or am I actually thinking?”
Have a great week ahead,
Regards,
Christiaan.
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