Government auditors often don’t get the respect they deserve. Not only do they contend with notoriously tight budgets and limited staff, but they also work in a politically charged environment where policies and procedures often are anchored in the shifting sands of political will, rather than in best practices. Doing the right thing can be especially difficult when it runs counter to a popularly held opinion. As I have noted before, we all have an interest in their success, because they are “the guardians of public trust.”
In the private sector, the free market fosters a robust support system of conferences and consultancies for internal auditors.…