4 Myths About Careers in Auditing That Couldn’t Be Further From the Truth

This article is sponsored by the Center for Audit Quality and Discover Audit.

When you think about what an auditor does, we’re sure you’ve heard the stereotypes:

• They just look at numbers all the time.
• Everyone’s afraid of them.
• They just sit at their desks all day.

To set the record straight (and show why auditing might actually be the perfect career opportunity for you), here are the top five myths people in the profession deal with and what the world of auditing is really like.

Myth #1: You Spend All Day By Yourself

When you think of working with numbers, you probably conjure up images of Excel spreadsheets in the dark corner of an office. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth with auditing!

In reality, auditors spend a lot of time with other people, including team members and clients, to ask questions and gather the information they need to provide an accurate, detailed, and proper assessment of a person or company’s financial framework.

Even when you’re back at the office or hanging with your team and not on-site with clients, it’s truly a collaborative process. You’ll have mentors and supervisors standing by to answer questions and check your work to make sure it’s top-notch.

Myth #2: You’re Stuck at a Desk

Auditors need to invest in great suitcases, because they’re constantly on the go. They have the opportunity to work out of a different place every day, and depending on the type of auditing they end up doing, they could be traveling all over the country (and even the world) to help provide financial assistance.

Myth #3: You Only Deliver Bad News

In the movies, you’ve probably seen auditors as people who come in and show that companies are corrupt. You may remember the comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic, which involves a debt officer coming after the main character, Rebecca. Yikes, are all auditors like that?

Good news: that’s not what the actual profession of auditing is like! In fact, auditors are often credited with saving companies from future problems.

One of the big services auditors provide, for example, is risk assessment. An auditor could give a company a detailed report highlighting which parts of the organization are most open to fraud or similar issues and offer solutions for how to protect against them. Talk about superhero status.

Myth #4: You Just Do One Job

Fact: Days as an auditor can actually include lots of other tasks, like sitting for in-depth interviews with clients to hear more about their processes, monitoring a facility to gather intel, writing up financial statements, and so much more.

Because there are many responsibilities, that also means there are expansive opportunities for career advancement and professional growth.

Now that we’ve debunked all the big myths, it’s time for you to get started thinking about that career in auditing!