Sex, Drug Use and Graft! and Tone at the Top

The importance of the auditing function has been in the news several times this week, at least at the federal level. The inspector general of the Interior Department testified before the House on September 10th. He accused high-level officials of tolerating ethical failure and allowing such things as cronyism to cover-ups of incompetence. The NY Times ran an editorial on September 11th titled "Anything goes, apparently."

One of the important things that has evolved in auditing, especially after many of the large ethical failures, is the interest in an audit to address tone at the top. Nothing is more critical to an organization than to have explicit ethical standards that are publicized, reinforced, and followed by all from the top to the bottom. Without that an organization runs the risk of having a situation where "anything goes."