‘Why am I receiving an email about audit plans?’

This morning, Exchange Director/CEO Tom Shull sent associates an email inviting them to provide input for next year’s audit plan. Do you know why your role in this activity is important?

Before we get into that, let’s start with a little bit of background. Did you know that although AU auditors (aka internal auditors) are associates just like you? Their mandate is to conduct reviews of operations from an objective and independent perspective. When they conduct their reviews, they shouldn’t let personal feelings, friendships or pressure from others affect their judgment or the information contained in the reports they provide to the Board of Directors.

AU auditors are like lifeguards who watch the pool, but they don’t swim in it. They are there to observe and protect — not participate. Together, these qualities help internal auditors give honest feedback and spot problems before they become serious. They are like the company’s built-in truth-tellers – helping things run smoothly and fairly.

To determine the reviews they conduct during a given year, the AU team develops an audit plan at the first of the year that outlines review topics. To develop this, AU values diverse perspectives, so we reach out to associates closest to daily operations who often spot risk, trends or opportunities that those not as closely involved may miss. Your input helps auditors proactively explore these matters before they escalate or the value of the opportunity diminishes.

Each directorate faces unique challenges and has varied strategic objectives. Your feedback ensures the audit plan reflects this mix. As a member of the Exchange family, you can provide valuable feedback that serves as a tangible demonstration of shared ownership in the organization’s success. Your input helps prioritize audits that matter most to the business, informed by real-world input that could lead to meaningful improvements. The importance of your suggestion is clear.

So, what may be some topics that make for a good audit? To answer that, here are some questions to ask yourself:

What is not working as well as it could in your operations?
What is taking more time and effort because something upstream from you is not as effective as it could be?
Where have positions not been filled, allowing one person to have too much control over a process?
Where could resources or technology be introduced that could help you be more effective?

Did that get you thinking about topics you can suggest? The email survey will guide you through a series of questions to aid in providing background and context to those topics. Note that audit suggestions are very different from notifications of when something seems wrong, unsafe or unethical. Please use the Inspector General’s hotline (From the IG Portal, select “How to file a Complaint”, otherwise: Hotline@aafes.com or 800-527-6789) for that information.

How will your suggestions be used? Does one automatically result in an audit? To determine the reviews AU will conduct during a given year, the team reviews and evaluates all suggestions based upon a matrix of risk and alignment with the organization’s strategic objectives. This assessment ultimately yields a risk-based and diverse audit plan that outlines topics of the reviews to be conducted.

As a reminder, all suggestions provided to AU are kept anonymous. In the survey, there is a place to provide your name, but that is optional. If you do not fill it in, no AU team member will receive identifying information related to your suggestion.

If this article has started ideas percolating, or in case you miss the email, here is the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FVRCRKF

The AU team is eager to hear your input.