non-Certified Internal Auditor |

Recently we had a quite fruitful discussion regarding next steps in advancement of Internal Audit function in our company.

Beside standard “SOX Compliance monitoring” and “Regular audits” we identified lack of one serious thing – punishment culture. Yes, I’m not mistaken. We have all – good working atmosphere, reasonably high wages, year-end bonuses etc. But there is no punishment for wrongdoing.

For sure, if you kill someone, you will be dismissed from the company immediately. It is already in the policy. But for other, not so serious wrongdoings – nothing except “you will be responsible in accordance with current labor legislation”, which generally means nothing, because “labor legislation” protects employee so much, that even regular non-attendance should be strongly proved by employer in the court.

So, positive motivation is good, very good. But negative motivation also good enough to be used, even if it is stressful.