For many years, I taught accounting courses during the evenings at a local university. I would often tell my students, “The only stupid question is the one that is never asked — unless the question is, ‘Would you postpone the next exam?'”
My years as a college instructor coincided with the early years of my internal audit career (which was essentially my day job at the time). Over time, I came to appreciate that in internal auditing, as elsewhere in life, there really are very few stupid questions.
The most successful internal auditors are not necessarily the smartest or the most experienced auditors; they are often the most inquisitive.…