In the grand theater of professional pursuits, few characters stand in more delightful contrast than the meticulous auditor and the wild-eyed tech innovator. One peers relentlessly backward, while the other hurls themselves recklessly forward – a cosmic dance of opposites that somehow keeps our business world spinning on its axis.
Auditors, all credit to their detail-oriented hearts, are the professional time travelers of the corporate world – except they only go in one direction: backward. Armed with spreadsheets and an almost supernatural ability to spot a misplaced decimal point from fifty paces, they march determinedly into the past. "Show me what happened," they demand, as they sift through the financial debris of decisions long made. The current auditing model is, by definition, backward-looking – evaluating transactions that have already occurred, verifying past events for authenticity, and essentially telling you how well you did... six months or a year ago.
Meanwhile, across the corporate campus (probably in that weird building with the slide and kombucha on tap), tech innovators are having none of yesterday's news. "The past? We've already disrupted that!" They operate in a perpetual state of future tense, where everything is about to be revolutionised, transformed, or rendered obsolete – including, quite possibly, their own innovations from last Tuesday – gotta love AI eh? They're too busy creating tomorrow to worry about documenting yesterday.
And herein lies the exquisite irony: we need both these opposing forces to function in our modern economy. It's like having one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake – uncomfortable, perhaps, but surprisingly effective at preventing catastrophe.
The auditor says, "Let's make sure everything adds up before we proceed." The tech innovator replies, "Let's move fast and break things!" The auditor carefully documents what broke. The cycle continues.
What makes this dance particularly fascinating is watching these worlds increasingly collide. Today's auditors find themselves evaluating blockchain transactions and AI algorithms and whizzy new shiny accounting buttons, like time travelers suddenly thrust into a sci-fi novel. Meanwhile, tech innovators discover (often painfully) that those backward-looking compliance requirements aren't just bureaucratic annoyances but essential guardrails preventing their brilliant innovations from becoming tomorrow's cautionary tales.
Perhaps the most delicious irony is that both professions are ultimately trying to create trust – just from opposite directions. Auditors build trust by verifying what has happened; innovators build trust by promising what could happen. One profession thrives on predictability; the other on disruption. Yet both are essential threads in the fabric of our economic system.
Just as an aside, there is of course that rare breed, hybrid “The Innovauditor”, which is where my Co-Founder, Christiaan Coetzee steps into the limelight. He’s like a “Gryphon”, with the divine authority of a lion and the vision of an eagle, except he’s not mythical; he’s very real and the embodiment of progress in the audit world and helping us take things to a whole new level.
So next time you find yourself caught between an auditor asking for last quarter's documentation and a tech innovator pitching the end of documentational together, take a moment to appreciate the beautiful tension. It's not a bug in our system – it's a feature. A necessary counterbalance that keeps us moving forward... but not too quickly, and with receipts…..just ask Christiaan!
After all, even the most revolutionary rocket ship needs both thrust and navigation. One without the other is either a stationary explosion or a perfectly documented journey to nowhere.
- Piers Mummery
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