There’s a moment in every audit where the wheels come off.
For Sophie, it happened on a rainy Tuesday in Clackmannanshire.
Her junior, James, had blown the budget for reviewing payables by twelve hours.
Not by discovering fraud or stumbling on a messy situation.
No, he'd spent it manually trying to agree leads, breakdowns and subledgers to the client's payables, and arguing with the client about how a lead of a 100k cannot possibly be used to explain a balance of 1.3m, for three days.
When she asked him what happened, he said, “I didn’t think it would take that long.”
Of course he didn’t.
Because she set the budget.
From her desk.
With no context.
And no buy-in.
Just a memory of last year’s audit which was as vague as her client’s expenses.
Which ushers in this week’s rule perfectly.
Let your team set their own budgets (Rule 3).
Before you clutch your pearls and shout out words like “control” and “overrun”, let’s be clear. This isn’t about giving free rein to juniors who don’t know how to handle free rein.
This is about trust. It’s about building a culture where accountability is a two-way street.
Do you know why you never wash a hire car? Because you don’t own it.
When auditors estimate their own timeframes, they’re more likely to hit them. Why? Because it’s not just a number on a plan. It’s their number. They own it, so they take care of it.
It breeds a culture where people don’t just do the work, they manage it.
Yes, the first few times will be clunky.
Yes, you’ll get someone quoting four hours for fixed assets, and coming back two days later with bloodshot eyes and a face that says, “Don’t sack me”.
And yes, that’s all part of the process.
Because then you debrief and help them revise their estimates next time.
You’re not handing over the keys. You’re teaching them how to drive.
This is how you grow seniors who can think for themselves, not just follow rules like they’ve been programmed.
Sophie and James? They reviewed and learned and changed.
At the next planning meeting, she sat James down and asked him how long he thought payables would take this year.
“Probably 10 hours.”
She raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. “I scheduled a pre-audit call with the client. Got them to reconcile everything ahead of time. No guessing. No surprises.”
Budget? 10 hours
Time taken? 9.5 hours.
Now we’re talking.
Have a great week.
Regards,
Christiaan.
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