What Chief Audit Executives Need to Do to Gain the Respect of Top Executives

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One of the biggest challenges for any chief audit executive or head of risk management is getting and maintaining the respect of senior management and other top executives. I want to share some tactics that worked for me, as well as where I failed to earn that respect.

These are not necessarily in the order of their importance—that will vary for each CAE and the relationships they need to establish.

I should say first that every CAE needs to identify the individuals with whom they need to build and maintain solid relationships, and then monitor and care for them as long as they are with the organization.

1. You won’t get lasting respect just because you have a title. You get and maintain respect from your work product.

So, you must consistently deliver the high-quality information (assurance, advice, and insight) that matters to the executive. And if you ever have to show them your audit charter to prove they need to pay attention, you are lost. If you work very hard, you may be able to recover, but it’s doubtful.

If you give them information they need (and not stuff they don’t) they will realize that you can help them to be successful.

That means:

• Don’t waste your or their time on issues, even risks, that, if you really think about it, their time and attention is not needed. It’s not about what you think is important. Find out what really matters to each of them. Focus on what really matters to the achievement of enterprise objectives (such as their objectives as leaders of the organization).
• Building on that, don’t bury important points in a mountain of stuff they don’t have to know.

When I was with Home Savings of America, I got a call from the president’s executive assistant. She said that she pre-read all his correspondence and, at his direction, highlighted the content he needed to pay attention to. Could I highlight such content in my audit reports? Of course I said “yes,” and then I started looking at what I was highlighting and what I was not—and learned to eliminate the latter.

• Recognize what is reasonable for them to rely on their team to handle.
• See and discuss the big picture, not individual weeds. What do those individual issues mean when you look at the big picture?

When I took over as CAE of Solectron Corp., I asked my Asia-Pacific director what all the high-risk issues in her latest draft audit report meant. She thought about it overnight and told me the next day that it meant that the regional president’s strategy of moving manufacturing around would fail. That was what the weeds added up to.

• Tell them what they need to know when they need to know it.
• Talk in their language, not yours.
• Get to the point when you meet, cover the topic to their satisfaction (hopefully yours as well), and then be prepared to leave. Leave unless they indicate they want to continue.
• You are only as good as your team. Ensure you have the best people who are able to draw the right inferences and conclusions about what they are seeing in their work. Like you, they need outstanding interpersonal skills to ensure issues are constructively discussed and appropriate actions agreed upon and taken.

2. Recognize these are very busy people and their limited time is precious.

When I was a manager in the London Computer Audit Group (CAG) of Coopers & Lybrand, my boss introduced me to the top partner responsible for CAG in the U.K. (the “man” himself, Brian Jenkins, later the Lord Mayor of London). He asked about a special project I was working on. I was flustered and not at all succinct in my reply. I saw the partner’s eyes drift away, as he did himself soon after.

As my manager at the time told me: “People like Brian Jenkins (a true genius) have the attention span of a gnat.”

• Don’t ask to meet if you don’t need to.
• If you ask for a meeting, know why you want to meet. Let them know the agenda ahead of time. Send them pre-reading material as needed.
• Be punctual or early.
• If you can, get them talking about the business and see where you can help. My goal is always to talk no more than 20 percent of the time.

At Home Savings, I earned the respect of the EVP of Human Resources after I asked her for a problem she was having difficulty solving. When my team solved it (a workflow management failure by her second in command), she was my best advocate within the firm.

• Listen and learn. They know more about the business than you do, so respect that. They should and probably do know more about what is important in running the organization and which are the most important risks. Work with them to assess the significance of any control deficiencies and what action is needed, if any.

Be their trusted advisor and not someone who tells them without listening.

• Learn to read their body language and impatience vs. genuine interest.
• Don’t overstay your welcome.

3. Believe in your heart and demonstrate with your actions that you exist to help the organization succeed. You are not there to find fault.

This has to be more than talk. It has to be how you walk every day, and how every member of your team walks. Provide the assurance, advice, and insight that executives need to lead the organization to success.

Rate your performance on customer satisfaction (audit committee and C-suite), not the number of findings or audits performed.

4. Talk about the business and not just risk and controls.

Everybody loves to hear themselves talk, but CAEs need to listen and learn. We need to put everything into the context of running the business, and how better than by getting the executives to talk about it. Ask questions about how it is going, how happy they are with progress, and so on. Then listen actively and attentively.

One of my managers went to see a senior executive and introduced himself. An hour or so later, that executive called to tell me how pleased he was with my guy. He said my manager was knowledgeable and he looked forward to working with him. After that call, of course, I went over to congratulate the manager. He was shocked! He told me that he had hardly said a word. The executive talked and talked. The key is that my team member listened and encouraged him to talk.

When I was with Tosco Corporation, I would meet with each of the two business unit CEOs at least once each quarter, frequently more often. We would talk about the business before even touching on any internal audit-related issues. One of my meetings with the refining unit CEO went over time, and I apologized. He told me not to apologize because our talking about the business was very productive for him.

There are exceptions. One executive was always intensely focused and unwilling to get into that kind of discussion. He and I got on okay, but I was never satisfied with our relationship. There was mutual respect, but no more than that.

5. No surprises.

Don’t go over the heads of senior management or top executives. Don’t rush to publish a report unnecessarily.

If there are serious issues in your audit report, meet with the executive before you issue it. In fact, make sure they are alerted to possible serious issues as soon as you can.

Have an open discussion about what was found, whether it is important and if so, how much, and what needs to be done. Give them the opportunity to be present in further meetings to discuss the report, such as with the audit committee.

6. Invite them to talk to your team.

Make them feel important. They are.

While the chair of the audit committee often met at least my direct reports, I regret never asking the CEO of Tosco to meet my team. In fact, while I had great relationships with all the other executives and board members, I didn’t have nearly enough one-on-one meetings with the CEO.

7. Be visible.

Attend as many senior-level meetings as you can, but only speak when you have valuable things to say.

These are just what comes to mind. I’m sure there are many more things CAEs and heads of risk management can do to earn the respect of top executives. Please provide some of your own strategies that have worked to win the respect of senior management. Post them in the comments section below. 

Norman Marks is an internal audit and risk management expert and author of the blog, “Norman Marks on Governance, Risk Management, and Audit.” He is also the author of several books, including World Class Risk Management, Risk Management in Plain English: A Guide for Executives, and Auditing that Matters.