New to managing junior auditors here at Dominion Energy Virginia and struggling with documentation quality. Their technical skills are solid but their audit reports read like engineering manuals. Clients need clear explanations of findings and recommendations, not dense technical analysis. How do you teach effective business communication to analytically-minded auditors?
Building audit documentation skills
Gary, this is one of the biggest challenges in our profession. I require all junior auditors to write their executive summary first, before diving into calculations. Forces them to think about the business impact and communicate value upfront. MLGW clients here in Memphis want to know the bottom line immediately - potential savings, implementation costs, payback period. Technical details go in appendices.
Randy's executive summary approach is spot-on. Here in Washington with Avista, I use a "grandmother test" - if your grandmother can't understand the recommendation in two sentences, rewrite it. Junior auditors often forget that facility managers aren't utility experts. They need actionable insights, not tariff analysis dissertations.