Visiting Bokrijk Last Tuesday I relaxed at the Bokrijk Open Air Museum which remains one of my favourite places to spent a day or even just an afternoon with your kids. We had two nephews visiting who had not been to Bokrijk before. That was a great opportunity to load everyone in the car and … Continue reading What we have lost
Understanding basic governance for internal auditors
An internal auditor has an essential role to play in the governance of an organisation. Which is why it remains difficult to grasp for me why so few internal auditors have a basic understanding of governance principles. We have developed a high level introduction to governance for internal auditors, in Dutch, which provides a basic … Continue reading Understanding basic governance for internal auditors
Sharing courses – Internal audit reporting
The quality of internal audit reporting is often significantly below par. The number of times I’ve been confronted with reports that were too long, too convoluted, trying to prove to the reader the auditor had done a lot of work … are impossible to count. While the internal auditor ideally writes something that is digestible … Continue reading Sharing courses – Internal audit reporting
Andrew Millar on serial dissenters in a company
A quick note on a great article I read this morning. I’m late to this show - it was in my reading queue I’m procrastinating on - but when I read it, it rang a bell. Actually, it rang pretty much a whole bell-tower with a carillon in it. Consider the following, quite familiar to … Continue reading Andrew Millar on serial dissenters in a company
The relevance of a thesis for a master class in post-graduate education
It’s quite interesting to see that more and more master classes in post graduate education chose not to “impose” a thesis subject on their students. We’ve moved away from it in the context of the Master class Internal Audit at the Antwerp Management School as well. But in retrospect, I’m absolutely convinced we shouldn’t have. … Continue reading The relevance of a thesis for a master class in post-graduate education
Directive versus coercive policies
A policy and its translation into legislation aims to establish a framework which provides a way for a government to influence - and often to direct - the behaviour of its people. This is a core function of government. If you want to read more about that, read "Seeing like a State" by James C. … Continue reading Directive versus coercive policies
Manage how you feel (Twitter Masterclass)
There are many ways to make yourself feel miserable. Watching the news or following the wrong people on Twitter may do the trick, pushing you into a spiral of negative feelings. But you are defined by the people you surround yourself with. That includes the people you surround yourself with via your social media accounts. … Continue reading Manage how you feel (Twitter Masterclass)
The burden of your political convictions
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.” - The Usual Suspects Administrative burden reduction is an initiative taken by quite a few governments, many of them in the EU, including the EU itself, which aims to reduce the costs of compliance with laws and regulations for citizens and … Continue reading The burden of your political convictions
Wise words from wise authors
A very short post on this dreary Sunday in Belgium, with too much grey in the sky and way too much wind … Neil Gaiman at his South-by-Southwest keynote: “finish your projects. You will learn more from finishing something than from beginning it. After it's done you can fix it, but you can't fix something … Continue reading Wise words from wise authors
Our attention span
Short one today, working on a longer article on coercive versus directive policies, but this tweet is something to consider. A teacher had her class log all the social media and other notifications their devices sent them during one single period. Think about what we are exposing ourselves to. Here it is again, that link.
