The Schellman Blog

Auditors. We’re an odd breed. “A necessary pain in the tuchus,” some may say. Admittedly, we’re not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, in our 20+ years of experience, we’ve seen the word “auditor” invite various visceral responses. To be sure, organizations aren’t always enthusiastic about inviting us assessors in to do the requisite checks, despite the benefits of doing so (and despite being invited guests).

So you’ve committed to an audit. Your customers were asking, or maybe a new regulation came into effect that your organization is now subject to—whatever the reason was, you’ve got to get audited because your audit team is confirmed.

“It is our collective and individual responsibility…to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.” - Dalai Lama Are there ways in which we can have an impact, as an individual, in order to tend to the world in which we live?

It’s not so much the case now, but for decades, malls were enormous buildings where you could pick up any number of products all under the same roof. It made things convenient, being able to find different kinds of clothing to suit you but also grab skincare products, the latest tech, and specialty gifts—in one spot.

If you ask any Olympic athlete, they’ll tell you that their selection to the Games is an achievement in itself–to be chosen demonstrates their caliber of athleticism as a tier above ordinary.

You know this story.

The period of September through the end of December many have nicknamed “Busy Season” for lots of fun reasons: the return of school and fall sports, endless football games on almost every night of the week, the busiest holidays of the year, and loads of family time. Perhaps less fun, Busy Season also often includes audits and attestations for many organizations wishing to deliver audit reports by the end of the calendar and fiscal years. With so much to do—not only at work but also at home—it all may seem impossible, but there actually are proven paths to a smooth end-of-year audit process that can help streamline Busy Season in at least this one respect.