Outside the box: Who could I nominate for the Audit & Risk Awards and what makes a strong nomination?
Nominations for the annual Audit & Risk Awards open again in October, so now is an ideal time to start thinking about whether your team, or anyone in it, is worthy of nomination. The internal audit profession is developing fast and evolving to deal with rapidly emerging risks. Standing still and continuing to do what you have always done is not enough if you are to keep up with the changing external environment and the tools and methodologies that are constantly evolving.
This means that most internal audit teams should have stories to tell about how they have risen to new challenges and changed the ways they do things. It’s not just about doing more with the same resources, although this has added pressure. It’s also about responding to management’s need for different forms of assurance and increasing the reputation and value of the internal
audit profession.
Much of this is done internally within organisations, but part of creating a strong reputation involves gaining external recognition. Internal auditors can be shy of blowing their own trumpets, but if they don’t advertise their successes, it’s unlikely that anyone else will do it for them. The Audit & Risk Awards are an ideal opportunity to share what you have achieved with your peers across all sectors and sizes of organisation. You can help to inform and inspire others by setting an example of what can be done with imagination and determination. Winning or being shortlisted also reinforces the message to your own organisation’s managers and your auditees that what you are doing has been judged against others in your peer group and seen to be impressive by your professional body.
Furthermore, at a time when many chief audit executives (CAEs) are struggling to hire and retain the best talent and secure their budgets, winning an award can provide a huge boost to the confidence of current internal auditors and reinforce the attractions of your team to those contemplating a career move. Nominating a team or an individual immediately signals to those involved that you have recognised what they are doing and that you consider it exemplary.
Many past winners have also commented that the process of completing the nomination form was itself a useful exercise because writing down everything they had achieved made them reflect on it and recognise their achievements. It can also provide a useful basis for promoting the team in other ways (intranet stories, briefings to audit committees/boards, for example).
What do you have to do?
The good news is that nominations allow a limited number of words in each section. This is a blessing – you don’t have to write a novel and you can’t attach pages of documentation – and a curse – you need to be concise and focused. Since this is itself a requirement for good internal audit report-writing, it should not be a problem.
However, a strong nomination does involve some planning and thought, beyond merely considering the best category to enter or individual to put forward. You will need to provide endorsements from senior management and, in some cases, the chair of the audit committee, so it pays to speak to these people early on and discuss what you want from them and why. The endorsements matter because the judges look to these to provide evidence that the internal audit work is having a real impact on those who should benefit from it. They often serve to differentiate between a good nomination and an excellent one.
Many strong nominations also include endorsements from auditees and from members of the internal audit team. Used well (and if they sound convincingly genuine), these can provide additional evidence that what the nominator says is fair and accurate. For example, anybody nominating an internal audit team for an award is likely to say that team members are happy and fulfilled and doing great work, however quoting an auditee or a junior internal auditor who can give an example of the impact this has had on them directly reinforces this point and adds further credibility.
Evidence is another vital part of a nomination. Many people ask what this should include and there is no single answer – so it pays to be imaginative and may also be a good question to brainstorm with others in the team. The results of staff surveys, post-audit questionnaires and external quality assessment reports are all good sources of evidence. Examples of internal audit work that has solved a problem in the organisation, saved costs or made processes more efficient are welcome.
It can be hard to pin down a reduction in, say, fraud or waste, to a single internal audit intervention, but you could provide statistics that show an improvement alongside a quote from a manager who believes that internal audit contributed to this. Conversely, providing reams of statistics without putting them in context may be less meaningful than giving a general overview of an improvement and using a few figures as a representative example.
Many nominators say they are unable to provide examples of successful internal audit work because it is confidential to the organisation. While we cannot tell people what they can and cannot write about their business, we stress that the only people who see the nomination forms are the judges and a very small number of Chartered IIA managers who assist and record the judging process and run the awards. All are aware that the documents may contain sensitive information and the entry forms are locked and password-protected.
Last, but not least, do not be put off because you work in a small organisation and have a similarly modest budget. Past winners have included people doing great things in small teams. The judges will be aware that internal auditors work in many different environments and at different levels of technological sophistication. The key is to explain how you have improved or changed what you do, or how you have achieved exemplary performance with what you have.
Top tips
1. Prepare your entry in good time – think hard about the best category to enter (some of these change each year, so read them carefully). Multiple entries containing the same text in different categories will be rejected.
2. Consider putting together a small working group to brainstorm ideas, gather evidence and proof-read/edit your nomination – spelling mistakes and typos don’t support a strong nomination.
3. Remember to set the scene briefly at the start of your story. It’s easy to take things for granted that the judges won’t know – for example, the size of your team and organisation and challenges particular to your sector, geographical locationor business.
4. Discuss your nomination with the senior managers or audit committee members you need to provide endorsements. Explain why you are entering and what you require from them.
5. Identify the evidence you require to support your nomination and make sure it is accessible and can be extracted to use on the form – note that nominations cannot include attachments.
6. Draft your nomination and circulate to those who may be able to add to it or make suggestions before you enter it on the online nomination form. (A few organisations have problems accessing the online form – usually because of security settings in their organisation’s IT systems. If this happens, contact us for alternative ways to enter.)
7. Get in touch if you have any questions that have not been answered above or on the website.
This article was published in September 2023.