Someone in a private Indy group asked a question regarding choosing an auditor. I wrote a short answer, and then realized I had more to say.

I hadn’t thought this through before, but I realized someone should write guidelines for “How to choose an auditor.” Many of us never needed to think it through, before. When I was in the CofS, after all, there weren’t very many auditors on staff, and I was assigned someone. One might have a “preference,” but for most people it wasn’t exactly a shopping trip.

Yet in the independent field, we make our own choices… and there’s a lot of factors involved in making those choices.

One element is the level of commitment we are prepared to make — rather like choosing an accountant, web developer, or dentist. You don’t want to fumble at the start, because the services are not cheap, and re-starting with someone new is time-consuming. Sure, you can change whom you go to — but we all want want to decide to trust this person for the long haul. That’s especially so in choosing an auditor, since we know we’ll be confiding our most vulnerable thoughts to that person.

So I think about the criteria I used in choosing other service professionals, and try to map that to choosing an auditor.

Ask Somebody

The primary way any business gets new customers is, of course, referrals. If I don’t know whom to trust, I’ll ask someone I do trust for advice. The difficulty with referrals is that I’m apt to trust my buddy’s advice even if it’s not-quite-right for me. A friend might like and trust his lawyer (who is renowned for, say, property law), but I need someone with contract law experience which his lawyer lacks.

Or I’ll go to someone I already know from earlier conversations, even if the conversations were not about my case. (Cat photos always help, right?)

This ought to be a lesson to freezone auditors about the way they participate on message boards, and the frequency in which they do so. My inevitable personal example: When I decided I needed auditing RIGHT NOW, two people sprung to mind immediately — both of whom I’d known-and-liked from a private freezone mailing list, with whom I’d corresponded on-and-off for years. I liked them personally… which matters. And in my head I thought, “These people know their stuff” because they had demonstrated their breadth of knowledge. One of them worked out better logistically, and as it turns out I could not have made a better choice for my needs. This isn’t meant to be a Success Story… but if you want an enthusiastic referral, contact me privately.

The problem is… many people in the freezone are not in a community already in which they know-and-trust other people, which makes it hard to ask for a referral or to choose an auditor based on lurking-on-conversations. So you’re rather on your own.

Questions to Ask… or Not

One button for many people (including the woman whose query inspired this essay) is where an auditor got training, to what CofS level… or if the auditor was “fully trained,” given the nature of the freezone. We don’t have an external certification process for freezone auditors to establish a baseline for technical competence (the way that the computer industry has tests wherein a hardware-repairer can demonstrate, if not consummate ability, a lower likelihood of screwing up). I don’t know if that’s something anyone would want to put on the table.

Training/certs is not my first thought, though I understand how it might be for others. Yes, there’s a baseline of certification I expect from, say, a chiropractor (e.g. I like to see a graduation certificate on the wall), but I look more of a demonstration that they learned their tech than where it came from. Some chiropractic schools had a mindset they imbued to their students, but if it’s 20 years later the chiropractor may have rejected it or taken the knowledge further by himself. I rather hope so. I want someone who can and does “think” with the technology he learned.

So when you’re looking for an auditor, in my opinion you should ask where he got his training, but you should also ask when it was, and where. There are differences; people tell me that auditors trained in the CofS in the last 10-20 years have stiff, rote TRs, for example. Somebody more tech-trained than I could probably stratify the auditor training by era. (I’ve gotten auditing only from the Indy field since 1987, so I’ve been happily “spoiled” with superb services.)

I wouldn’t stop with past training, though, any more than I’d choose my dentist based on the school he went to 30 years ago. How much experience does he have delivering services? Of this kind? How does he keep himself up-to-date? In most professions, that means learning the newest technology. And being an active member of professional organizations, which at least implies he talks shop with other practitioners.

When I choose someone for an expensive or important job, I also look at the information they provide on their website (or other promotional material, but really, that means a website). Plenty of these sites are lousy, no matter what the service is (my actual chiropractor’s site would not have sold me on him); most small business owners are better at delivering their services than at writing marketing copy.

Still, I do expect a certain amount of a “CSW:” Tell me what services you provide, and to whom, and give me clear where-and-when-and-how data. My accountant’s site does a good job of this on its home page (“…we understand the challenges small business owners face every day. We know they are pulled in many directions and must wear many hats – from Chief Executive to head of marketing to delivery person. That’s why we have built our practice around providing professional tax, estate and financial accounting services specifically aimed at helping small to medium-sized businesses”) so I know whether this is a match for my needs. Not the least of which is location and hours and how to contact them.

A really good website is a delight, and can sell me on a professional’s services. We shopped for a dentist, 10 years ago, without any referrals to guide us. The guy we chose has a site chock full of information that makes it clear his sensibilities match ours. He doesn’t just say that he does mercury-free fillings; he has a long essay explaining what they are, why they are important, and explaining patients’ options. I feel as though he’s educated me, even before we’ve spoken. We’ve been loyal patients since our first encounter with him. (This is called “content marketing.”)

I know some folks look for success stories or testimonials as evidence of ability, though that’s not my thing. They can give useful info, I admit; my dentist’s website has a testimonial from someone in a city 100 miles away, which implies that he’s so good people make a point of driving that far to get to him. But I treat testimonials the way I treat job references: of course you will find someone to say positive things about you. (Unless we want a Yelp for freezone auditors, which is another can of worms.)

One unique issue in choosing an auditor — but, I think, an important one — is finding someone who matches you on the spectrum of “tech standards.” I don’t want to open up a box of loud opinions on the subject of “standard tech” and KSW. But I do think it’s important for someone looking for auditing to find an auditor who matches or understands her in viewpoint on these topics. What’s the freezone auditor’s opinion on the evolution of the tech? What parts has he consciously embraced-or-rejected (I’ll pick on “ethics conditions” as an example), and why, and how does he resolve any discrepancies between that tech and how it was/is delivered in the CofS? Some of us come to auditing expecting things to be done a certain way, “just like in the CofS, except without [whatever sent you packing],” and at a minimum it likely helps the auditor to know about those expectations. On the other hand, if you’re appalled that an auditor might do things differently (for instance, I know some feel strongly that auditing over Skype is out-tech), it’d be smart to know that up-front before you make a choice.

If you reject auditing over a distance (e.g. via Skype), then another factor is the auditor’s location. If the person is local, great. But if she’s hundreds of miles away, it means you need to consider the cost of travel, as well as your time availability. By which I mean both the vacation time you need to take off from work, and the schedule of auditing you get during that visit. If you’re in town for a week, for instance, you’ll want to get as many hours of auditing as possible during that time. How much time is feasible? Depending on those logistics (and your case, once you’re working with the auditor), that might change your budget considerably.

In my eyes there isn’t any right-or-wrong answer here (I grant beingness to all viewpoints in this regard, though I have my own strong feelings). I also don’t think you have to be in complete agreement with your auditor about this. (I had my mind changed about some things, and I’m glad I did!) But it may be something to discuss up-front, so there are no surprises.

Well, that’s my thoughts on how people should choose auditors. I’m sure you have viewpoints of your own… many of which touch on things I didn’t think of. What did I forget to include here?