Auditing Leadership: The Professional and Leadership Skills You Need

How can you start a culture of feedback that improves your organization? Turn to page 27. Want to know the most important word to an auditor? Turn to page 65. Do you train people to interrupt you? Want to stop? Turn to page 106. What is the single biggest opportunity to improve your audit? Turn to page 172. Want to hear about the funnier side of auditing? Turn to the "You Know You Are an Auditor When…" Appendix on page 227. Praise for Auditing Leadership: The Professional and Leadership Skills You Need "From networking to e-mail, from team-building to selling yourself, Brian shows how to create a well-organized and effective working life. Although aimed at auditors, the countless ideas put forth in this book can be used by individuals in every field to grow and become more successful in their chosen careers. In fact, one particular assertion summed up the entire thesis for me: 'success is a mind-set, not a finish line.' Kush offers a multitude of unique and creative suggestions for establishing that mind-set." —Joe Hoyle, Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Richmond, and cofounder, www.CPAreviewforFREE.com "Auditing Leadership is a must-read for new graduates and a solid resource for seasoned professionals. Brian Kush has taken a wide range of best practice advice and distilled it into a fantastic handbook for the auditing profession." —Andrew Prather, CPA, Shareholder Clark Nuber PS "Brian's book takes you beyond the technical skills of auditing to help you become both a professional and a leader. The scope of topics covered is impressive, from e-mail communications to accountability to planning your future. The book includes sound, actionable advice that will benefit auditors at all stages of their careers, from staff to partner." —Louise M. Peabody, CPA, Member Watkins Meegan, LLC

Table of Contents:
Preface xi About the Author xiii PART I PROFESSIONAL INTERACTION AND REFLECTION SKILLS 1 CHAPTER 1 Where Are You Going? 3 Your Roles 4 Your Mission 6 Your Core Values 9 Roles, Mission, Values: Tying It All Together 10 Leadership Summary 11 CHAPTER 2 Selling Number One 13 Continuously Selling Yourself 13 Your Brand 16 Branding versus Selling 21 Leadership Summary 22 CHAPTER 3 Feedback Equals Money 23 Sources of Feedback 23 Performance Evaluations 25 Feedback Is Contagious 27 Specific Feedback Rocks! 28 A Feedback Culture Can Start with You 29 Leadership Summary 32 CHAPTER 4 The Audit Cheerleader 33 Belief Is Mandatory 33 Conflict Is Healthy 36 Positivity Is Contagious 40 Enemies Are Counterproductive 45 Leadership Summary 47 PART II NETWORKING SKILLS 49 CHAPTER 5 Your Social Capital 51 Social Capital 52 Your Circle of Trust 54 Strengthen Your Capital 55 Leadership Summary 56 CHAPTER 6 The First Step in Networking 57 Networking Events 58 Approach Networking as Relationship-Building 59 Leadership Summary 61 PART III TIME MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY SKILLS 63 CHAPTER 7 The Most Important Word to an Auditor 65 Understand More by Asking “Why?” 65 Teach Why 70 Leadership Summary 72 CHAPTER 8 The Problem with To-Do Lists 73 To-Do Lists Can Create Guilt 73 Create Action Lists 74 Reconcile To-Do Lists with Goals 77 Prioritization of To-Dos—It’s Impossible! 78 Leadership Summary 78 CHAPTER 9 The Power of Time-Blocking 79 Schedule Buffer Time 80 Time-Block Commitments, or Say “No!” 82 Planning Your Day by Using Time-Blocking 84 Time-Block Away Distractions 86 Time-Block Yourself 88 Leadership Summary 90 CHAPTER 10 The Power of Routines 91 Routines and Habits 92 Identifying Proactive, Healthy Routines 92 Multi-Fulfilling 98 Give Them a Name 98 Group Routines Require Group Buy-In 99 Create Accountability Related to Your Routines 100 Leadership Summary 103 CHAPTER 11 Do You Train Your People to Interrupt You? 105 Interruption Dependence? 106 Are You Too Accessible? 107 Empower People More So They Interrupt You Less 110 Leadership Summary 111 CHAPTER 12 Do You Have Commitment Issues? 113 Be Aware of All Commitments 114 Habitually Undercommit 117 Leadership Summary 120 CHAPTER 13 Reengineer Your E-mail Practices 121 How Much Are You E-mailing? 121 Challenge E-mails without Substance 123 What’s in an E-mail? 124 E-mail Subject Headers 124 E-mail Body 127 E-mail Habits of Others 127 Processing E-mail 129 How Often Should You Check E-mail? 134 Leadership Summary 137 PART IV COMMUNICATION SKILLS 139 CHAPTER 14 Effective Opining 141 What Is Your Advice Process? 141 Unsolicited Advice 143 Leadership Summary 149 CHAPTER 15 Are You a Filler-holic? 151 Conversation Word Fillers 151 Writing Word Fillers 154 Leadership Summary 156 CHAPTER 16 Why We Love PowerPoint Slides 157 What Is Your Objective in Making a Presentation? 157 Present with the Audience in Mind 158 Preparing a Presentation with Purpose 160 Leadership Summary 161 CHAPTER 17 One Way to Avoid Office Rage 163 Your Confrontation Style? 163 Turn Anger into Problems and Solutions 165 Leadership Summary 167 PART V CLIENT RELATIONSHIP SKILLS 169 CHAPTER 18 Who Is the Puppet Master? 171 Who Is Pulling the Strings? 171 The Single Biggest Opportunity to Improve Your Audit? 172 Stop Managing “Clients” 172 The First Step in Client Management 177 Stop “Managing” Clients 179 Leadership Summary 181 CHAPTER 19 What Hat Are You Wearing? 183 How Many Hats Are You Wearing? 183 Audit Your Audits 184 Client Education 184 Leadership Summary 186 CHAPTER 20 Be Memorable 187 Remind Clients of Your Value 187 Create Stories 189 Turn “Messing Up” into “Stepping Up” 190 Let Clients Guide You 193 Be Yourself 195 One Client at a Time 195 Leadership Summary 196 PART VI TEAMBUILDING AND REFLECTION SKILLS 197 CHAPTER 21 Prepare to Be Fired 199 Prepare to Be Fired from the Very Beginning: Leadership Transition 200 Add More Responsibilities 203 They See, They Do 203 Team Accountability 206 Team Chemistry 208 The “Open Door” Leader 209 Teach Your Teams to Seek Complaints 210 Ponder Your Future Often 211 Leadership Summary 213 CHAPTER 22 Now Where Are You Going? 215 Success Is a Mind-Set, Not a Finish Line 215 Awareness Unlocks Who You Are 218 What Are the Leadership Skills You Uncovered and Want to Develop? 219 Your Plan 225 APPENDIX You Know You Are an Auditor When . . . 227 Afterword and Acknowledgments 233 Index 235

About the Author :
Brian D. Kush, CPA, CISA, CITP, former Vice-President of AuditWatch, is President of Moxie Partners, a professional coaching and personal networking company that helps accountants and IT professionals achieve in self-defined and measurable ways. His clients include 25 of the top 100 accounting firms as designated by Inside Public Accounting. He has worked with over 100 CPA firms and provided consulting and/or live instruction to thousands of auditors on best practices, audit process reengineering, and audit technology tools. Kush is a former Audit Manager at Ernst & Young. His unique background includes having worked in the accounting profession, having trained in the profession, and now being a professional coach to those in the profession. He has worked intimately and consulted with level-one employees all the way up to managing partners and executives at hundreds of accounting firms and internal audit departments across the country.