The audit prep guy who answered my question with a question still bugs me

Had to review a client's books last Tuesday and their accountant kept deflecting every question about a missing $4,200 invoice. I asked him directly where the receipt was, and he just said 'well, where do you think it is?' like that's some kind of professional answer. Spent two extra hours digging through their email archive only to find it misfiled under 'Misc'. Maybe it's just me, but if you can't say 'my mistake' at work, how do you expect anyone to trust your numbers? Has anyone else dealt with a colleague who turns accountability into a riddle?

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piper_thompson311d ago

Read somewhere that most audit findings come down to bad filing, not fraud, and that's exactly what this sounds like. The guy deflecting is probably scared of looking dumb, but honestly it's way worse to waste your time like that. Had a similar thing with a vendor once, they kept dodging my emails about a duplicate charge, then finally admitted it was sitting in their "received" folder the whole time. People act like owning a mistake is the end of the world, but it just makes everyone's job easier. The question trick is such a lazy power move too, like c'mon, just check the damn system. Next time someone tries that on you, just stare at them until they answer, that usually works.