In episode 77 of Audit Bites, Robert dives deep into a critical yet often neglected audit risk—organizational culture. This compelling episode, inspired by a real-life scandal at Citigroup and insights from author Pete Havel’s book The Arsonist in the Office, explores why auditors commonly ignore toxic culture, the devastating impact it has on productivity, reputation, and trust, and practical advice for making culture an auditable focus.

Key topics include:

1. Real-world stories of culture failures at major organizations like Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Enron.
2. Why audit teams often default to controls instead of tackling the “messy” aspects of culture.
3. The Harvard research showing bad apples outweigh rock stars—how toxicity magnifies risk.
4. Eight actionable culture components auditors should integrate into every audit, from goals and budget decisions to promotion patterns and whistleblower data.
5. How leadership consistency, exit interviews, and local subcultures shape the organization’s health.

Special mention: Pete Havel, whose book The Arsonist in the Office inspired this episode. Learn how one toxic individual can burn down an entire workplace and what auditors should do to stop it.

Want to level up your audit team? Visit thatauditguy.com for on-demand training, resources, and tools to help you audit culture before it wreaks havoc.

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Mentions & Resources:

1. The Arsonist in the Office by Pete Havel
2. thatauditguy.com – Podcast resources, courses, training, and contact info
3. Harvard Business Study on workplace culture impacts

Tune in to uncover why addressing culture is essential for auditors and how it can make the difference between organizational success and failure.

Are you truly auditing what matters most, or are you chasing risks that won’t move the needle for your organization? In Episode 76 of Audit Bites, host Rob Berry tackles the overlooked pitfalls of risk-based internal auditing and reveals why being “risk-based” isn’t enough if you’re not aligned with today’s organizational strategy.

This episode dives into:

1. The critical difference between operational risks and strategic relevance
2. Real-world stories of auditing the past while the future is on fire
3. Why risk registers often go rogue—and how to clean them up
4. How to ensure your audit plan aligns with current business goals
5. The importance of performance metrics alongside risk insights
6. Practical steps to move beyond audit methodology and focus on outcomes that matter to leadership

This episode is packed with actionable advice for auditors, CAEs, and anyone involved in risk management or internal audit.

Ready to make your audits more relevant and impactful? Listen, share with your team, and don’t forget to rate us five stars on your favorite platform.

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Are controls really the key to business impact, or are we missing the bigger picture? Robert explores why endless audit reports, SOX reviews, and management’s focus on “are the controls working?” may be holding us back from what truly matters.

Tune in as Robert encourages auditors and professionals to break free from checkbox auditing, rethink the purpose of their work, and discover what actually drives real organizational success. Perfect for auditors, compliance professionals, and anyone interested in maximizing business impact.

Subscribe to Audit Bites for more paradigm-shifting conversations, and visit the Audit Bites website for resources and show notes. Share your thoughts with us and join the conversation. Are you ready to question audit norms?