We held a roundtable discussion for experienced auditors!

"What do auditors actually do?"
"Even among auditors, I'm curious about what others are doing."

This project was realized after such voices were raised at the recent AfC General Meeting,
and we immediately got excited among the members and decided to hold a roundtable discussion!

This time, we gathered three people with experience as auditors—Mr./Ms. H (Corporate/Internal Audit),Mr./Ms. I (Works at an audit firm),Mr./Ms. O (Independent)—to talk about the "reality of being an auditor."

1. The trigger for becoming an auditor was a "connection"

The first theme was "How did you become an auditor?"

Mr./Ms. H was introduced to several NPOs through AfC connections and took office as an auditor for one of them.

Mr./Ms. I experienced their first audit after being introduced by an accountant friend who was an NPO auditor. Since then, through connections leading to more connections, such as organizations they were previously involved with or organizations founded by friends, they are currently an auditor for multiple organizations.

Mr./Ms. O was approached by several organizations and became an auditor while doing multiple accounting pro bono projects. They serve as an auditor for four organizations, including general incorporated associations and general incorporated foundations.

What they all had in common was that rather than "raising their hand themselves," they
accepted the role because someone asked them to.

2. What do auditors actually do?

The role of an auditor is broadly divided into two—operational audit and financial audit. However, listening to the three of them, their ways of involvement were quite broad.

○ Mr./Ms. H: Thorough financial audit in the first year, followed by operational support

In the first year, they performed procedures almost at the level of an audit firm alone, such as creating a population of journal entries for major sales account items and sampling them to verify supporting documents.
In the second year, they narrowed the scope of the financial audit and instead began to get deeply involved inoperational consultations such as budget creation and cash flow management.

○ Mr./Ms. I: Maintaining distance while assessing the functionality of the Board of Directors

Mr./Ms. I carefully checks the minutes of the Board of Directors and the division of roles among directors to verify "whether the directors are properly fulfilling their duties."
They communicate closely when events such as director changes occur to see if the organization's direction and governance are aligned.

○ Mr./Ms. O: Supporting from the ground up in startup-phase organizations

Many of the organizations Mr./Ms. O is involved with are in the startup phase, and there are cases where they start from a point where "the financial statements have not been closed."
A characteristic was that they were deeply involved, checking invoices, cash and deposits, and accounts payable one by one, and participating in the introduction of tools like freee and the design of account titles.

3. The difficulty of being an NPO auditor

The three of them agreed on the difficulty of "how far to step in."

• There are many consultations outside their expertise, such as business strategy and service pricing

• There are countless things that "should be done," but there is always a gap with the organization's resources

• Depending on whether one works at an audit firm, is independent, or works at a corporate entity, there is also difficulty in deciding whether paid or unpaid is preferable regarding auditor compensation.

It was impressive how opinions were clearly divided regarding auditor compensation.
Mr. O believes that considering the responsibility involved, being an auditor should be distinct from pro bono work and should generally be paid.
Mr. I, working at an audit firm, has a policy of accepting such roles unpaid to maintain independence.
Mr. H also mentioned that he accepts them unpaid, based on the belief that he can give his best precisely because it is unpaid.

4. Moments when you felt glad you did it

What was impressive was this episode from Mr. H.

When the topic of the representative holding multiple positions in different organizations came up at the board meeting, Mr. H pointed out,
"It might be better to organize this from the perspective of conflict of interest."
He said that this triggered a deeper discussion and led to an increase in consultations from board members and the secretariat.

"There are points that only an accountant can notice."
He says that was the moment he realized that.

Mr. I spoke about how simply being thorough with the basic actions of an accountant, such as correcting typos and calculation errors, and cleaning up financial statements, can greatly increase an organization's credibility.

Mr. O spoke about the joy of working together with an organization that couldn't close its books to build the figures and see it take shape.

5. Conclusion: To those who want to try being an auditor

This roundtable discussion was a valuable opportunity not only for those who have never been auditors, but also for experienced auditors to learn about other cases.

We received happy feedback from participants such as,
"My image of internal audits and auditors was vague, but today's talk really brought it into focus,"
and "I want to hear from other experienced people. Please do a second session!"

If you are thinking, "I want to try being an auditor someday" or "I want to contribute to society,"
the AfC community might be the perfect place to take that first step.
You can consult with experienced people, and there are peers who will support you when you are in trouble!

The day will surely come when your expertise will be of help to some organization.

Why not take that first step together with us at AfC?