10
Sun, Nov
10 New Articles

Audits: What They're Good for and How to Survive Them

Commentary
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times
(I love when, in a nod to The Twilight Zone, they flash the book entitled To Serve Lemur, but I digress.)

Audits can strike a stabbing fear in the hearts of even the most redoubtable and rational individuals. Why? While professionals have pondered this phenomenon for years, this analyst believes it has not so much to do with the exposing of covert or surreptitious activities as much as there is an innate human aversion to being overly, and for a prolonged period, scrutinized—as if by the very action of scrutiny, an individual is de facto guilty of some egregious crime or error, even if they haven't done anything wrong. Heavy psychological stuff! (I told you in a past article that I'd expose you to a constellation of multidisciplinary trivia that will serve you well when you qualify to compete on Jeopardy.)

OK, so how can IT staffers—or any reasonable, hardworking, and usually sane (everything is relative) company employee—survive an audit without having to either have his/her Xanax dosage increased exponentially or become a hopeless alcoholic? (Actually, there is no harm in instructing one's spouse or partner to learn to make and serve an excellent martini.)

First, it is necessary to examine the facts and the myths—and to be able to distinguish one from the other. For example, the premise that a Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) audit or any audit is rational is false. If an audit is irrational, one can then proceed to deduce that IT managers or other line-of-business (LOB) management who, for the most part, are sensible, rational beings can devolve into veritable cretins at the prospect of an audit. Just be aware that it isn't their fault. They are driven to become so because, after all, they are responsible for running a business, and that comes with its own concomitant set of pressures and anxieties. Add an audit, and now they are conscripted to perform the impossible, Herculean task of running the business—without skipping a beat—and preparing for the audit. Oh, da horror! (Didn't you love the sock puppet from the erstwhile and defunct Pets.com?)

However, in light of the Wall Street scandals involving the heinous activities of executives in whom employees entrusted their fealty, their jobs, and their retirements, the audit has—sadly—become a necessary evil. A great person once said (actually, it was my chiropractor) that when an individual or an institution fails to govern itself, someone or some outside entity will come in and do it for them. Hence, audits.

Now that we have teased out the nuances of the predicament, what strategies and tactics can IT staffers employ to actually survive an audit? The answer is not duct tape and large sheets of plastic, although, they might help insulate you—somewhat—from the slings and arrows of an outrageous audit, but in the long run you'd just be sticking your head in the proverbial sand. Here are five foolproof (OK, so nothing is foolproof) ways to survive and perhaps emerge unscathed and victorious:

Recognize that Mr./Ms. Hyde is still Dr. Jekyll—That is, of course, if your boss wasn't Mr./Ms. Hyde to begin with. (Surviving a boss with bipolar disorder is a topic for another article.) If your immediate manager or supervisor is normally an intelligent and fair individual, it is imperative that you remain cool, calm, and collected when he/she morphs into Mr./Ms. Hyde. Why? Because he/she may demand that you perform certain activities that not only appear irrational but also may imperil the very mission of the organization. Remember, SOX is a government mandate, which means that, while the government requires publicly traded companies and their subsidiaries to have routine internal and external audits, the government, in all its infinite wisdom, does not provide a how-to guide.

For example, if the auditors request a separate report for each financial application located on a separate server, and your financial applications are on different servers, then a report will need to be generated for each server. In light of this and to move the audit along, a manager in a fit of extreme panic may order you to consolidate all the financial applications on a single server to expedite the audit process. This in effect removes the multiple-server safety net and enables a single point of failure (i.e., if the one server fails, all the financial applications crash and burn with it). It is here that an IT staffer may have to make a stand—and document it—by politely and professionally explaining to his/her deranged superior what the implications and consequences of such an act could mean and to propose alternative strategies and tactics. Mr./Ms. Hyde may throw a tantrum the likes of which a two-year-old would be envious and bellow at you until all your hair (presuming you have hair) blows away, but will likely appreciate your candor later when his/her inadvertent lapse in good judgment could have cost his/her job.
  • Temper, temper, mon Capitan—Even though we are not of the "Q Continuum," which made its debut in Star Trek TNG (everything I learned in life, I did learn from Star Trek), there are ways in which you can temper and reason with your boss. The trick is to remain reasonable, which is easier said than done, but is easier for you because you are not being scrutinized like an insect under a microscope. Similar to tactic number one, don't take the ranting and raving and occasional spewing of obscenities personally. This too will pass. One strategy that can be employed a priori, especially during "down" times (I alluded to this type of strategy in my pre-summer article entitled "SMB ERP Centers of Excellence (COEs): The Undiscovered Country") is to begin documenting mission- and business-critical systems and look for potential exposures in the system topology and application landscape so that you, and hence your boss, will be better prepared for an untimely audit.
  • Always look on the bright side of life—Whilst everyone in the midst of an audit experiences temporary amnesia about their life pre-audit and believes that there will never be a day of peace again, the fact is, an audit is a finite phenomenon. Sometimes pain can paradoxically lead to gain. Learning about potential system exposure points, streamlining applications for greater efficiency and less maintenance, and having to adopt better practices in application security can only strengthen the IT department and its standing in the organization. There may be a ton of work to do, but if it is handled correctly, the payoff can be big. The audit may reveal the need for a long-overdue project to finally be funded, enabling you to participate in something that is not only more interesting than, say, the grind of maintaining the set of applications ad nauseaum, but also can be career enhancing. Savvy? Remember, in this column, I do try to challenge IT staffers to improve their career opportunities and options.
  • The sun will come up tomorrow—And in the meantime suck it up and deal with it. There are always benefits and burdens in any exercise. Audits are certainly no different. And there is no excuse for employees behaving badly. Take a 10-minute walk, count to 10, or take 10 deep breaths, but resist the temptation to lash out at your boss, a peer, or a subordinate or to have a public meltdown (meltdowns are better had in the privacy of your therapist's office) because you will regret it later. Trust me.
  • Eating humble pie is not that bad—If in the endgame the IT department does not shine and there are problems—significant or insignificant—it is better to swallow your pride as an IT staffer and join the team in its remediation efforts as quickly and professionally as possible. Learning to dot the "i's" and cross the "t's" may be a humbling experience, but it is one you can learn and benefit from not only in your present instantiation but also when applying for another position with a future employer that could greatly benefit from your experience and remunerate you accordingly. Got it?

Remember, they who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. If one audit experience takes you to the threshold of hell, try to figure out ways to prevent it the next time around. Doing so and presenting your ideas to your boss, when he/she reverts back to Dr. Jekyll, may put you on the promotion path and save you, your manager, and your peers a lot of acida or agida (you say "potato"...).

MARIA DEGIGLIO

Maria DeGiglio is president and principal analyst of Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates. Current clients of Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates include the Visiting Nurse Service of New York ; Experture, LLC; and MC Press. Ms. DeGiglio has more than 20 years of experience as an IT consultant, industry analyst, and executive. From 1997 to 2005, she worked for Andrews Consulting Group and the Robert Frances Group.

 

Ms. DeGiglio received her Masters Degree in Health Advocacy from Sarah Lawrence College and graduated Cum Laude from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

 

 

Ms. DeGiglio has worked with IT and C-level executives to enable IT alignment with business goals and to implement best practices. She has experience and expertise in both large enterprises and in small- and medium-sized business. Ms. DeGiglio has authored over one hundred articles, reports, and white papers.

 

 

Since 2004, she has worked in the healthcare industry and in health IT investigating the legal, ethical, and regulatory aspects of creating, implementing, and exchanging electronic health records (EHRs). Ms. DeGiglio is an expert in security, privacy, and HIPAA regulatory compliance.

 

 

Ms. DeGiglio may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: