From the weather forecast to the latest sale at Macy's, we are bombarded by information every day. As auditors, we understand that information without understanding is meaningless and information without action is useless. But all too often, we focus on the information we don’t have. And we end up bemoaning the lack of data that is not being provided – or just plain doesn't exist – rather than trying to look at what we do have from a different angle.
Economist Steven Levitt (co-author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics) claims to be good at two things: asking interesting questions and then tricking the data into answering those questions. The questions he has asked (and then answered, with the help of others) range from whether sumo wrestlers cheat to whether real estate agents are really acting in the homeowner's best interest to why drug dealers live with their moms (yes, most of them really do).
This session will cover these and other questions Levitt has asked. We will also look at both the answers he and his colleagues found and how they found them. We will then discuss how to apply the approach used by Levitt and others in our audits. Because none of us have unlimited time to look for the perfect data . . . which likely doesn’t exist, anyway.
Course Objectives
· Understand the importance of auditor objectivity when framing the problem
· Learn the art behind asking the right questions
· Learn how to use the data you have to answer the questions that need answering
· Understand the Alexiou Principle and how it applies to your audit work
Presented by
Jennifer Paperman has been with the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) since June 1999, when she started as a staff auditor with the Division of State Government Accountability (SGA). She is currently the Quality Assurance Manager with SGA. In that position, she is responsible for ensuring that SGA auditors understand and can apply generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS) to their work and for verifying that all SGA audits complied with GAGAS. She oversees a team of internal reviewers, as well as providing training and guidance to SGA auditors. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Political Science degree, a Master of Public Administration degree, and a Master of Accounting degree, all from SUNY Albany. Jennifer is a member of the Association of Government Accountants, and she currently serves as the Secretary of the AGA New York Capital Chapter and is also a member of the AGA Professional Ethics Board. In her spare time, she stitches (mostly cross-stitch and blackwork) and occasionally scrapbooks. Not that she has any spare time.