Left Brain Right Brain

Why do we find comfort double teaming audit work and single teaming sales calls?

People that love math get a sense of achievement when they solve problems and get the right answer. The certitude, the exactness, and the feeling of being right bring subsequent benefits when the math student learns how accurate he was.

Taking this to the SOX/Sales realm, the act of testing controls provides a similar sense of achievement, the sense of getting the right answer. Understanding this motivating force leads us to blog entry #3.

The problem is that some companies still test more controls than they are required to test under 404 requirements. With AS5, external auditors no longer render opinions on the adequateness of management’s testing. Instead, they render an opinion on whether controls that prevent/detect a material weakness are designed and operating effectively; however, legacy AS2 efforts are difficult to tear down unless other activities are defined for the control testers. Overcoming the motivation to test and retest the same control is difficult when the current year procedure is “how we did it last year”, a gratifying sense of achievement awaits the tester because no alternate activity has been defined.

SAS65 and AS5 describe the situations in which the work of others may be relied upon; the scenario where we don’t have to doubly test a control activity. The SEC 404 Guidance for Management describes how the amount of evidence to support Management’s 404 assertions may vary, in some cases evidence can be obtained simply by walking around.

In testing SOX controls, the best practice is to maximally rely on the work of others unless there exists a specific risk or qualitative/quantitative factor of concern. In short: single team the audit.

Salespeople hunting prospects (potential customers matching the profile of your best customers) get no sense of achievement like the smart math student. Because most prospects don’t buy when asked the first time, there is a great tendency for sales professionals to hunt prospects alone. Being rejected or receiving a “no” answer is so much easier when one is by himself.

Despite lower sales success rates, humans tend to hunt their sales prospects alone.

Selling products/services by more than one person is a best practice. Double teaming communicates the benefits and the “asks” better than single teaming. Everytime.

Bank tellers double team instinctively because banks are designed with a counter full of bankers working side by side. The double teamers outsell the lone rangers by wide margins.

In selling, the best practice is to double team every sale unless the salesperson is simply responding to a customer request for the product/service. In short: double team the sale.
Questions & Actions:

Can the amount of controls testing work relied upon by your auditor be increased? Review SAS65, AS5 and the SEC Guidance for Management to identify the opportunities to reduce the amount of double auditing taking place over your 404 controls.

Does your sales force double team every prospect? Double teaming ensures the benefits are completely described to a prospect and ensures younger professionals see how it’s done all while maximizing revenue growth.