ABSTRACT
The lead auditor bears the principle responsibility for creating the tone for an Audit Adventure™ auditing project, and for ensuring that the individuals in their audit team work well together. Over the years, powerful techniques for achieving this have emerged, and these are shared. Several approaches have proved themselves invaluable in countless applications, including the sixty-second rule, first meeting with the whole team, the sausage machine, conscious use of language, questioning technique, framing, and use of metaphors. Understanding language patterns—including distortions, generalizations, and deletions—and structured questioning techniques assist risk-based auditors inside and outside of their audit team’s project office.
