Watchdogs and Bloodhounds

Thursday, 29th November 2007

Yesterday, I blogged about the topic of accounting.

Today, I shall blog about another topic that I am familiar with, and that is of auditing.

Upon graduation in 1991, I joined what was then known as Price Waterhouse (which is now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, after having merged with Coopers & Lybrand in 1999) as an external auditor.

After spending 3 1/2 years there, I spent the next 2 1/2 years as an internal auditor in a well-known country club. I recall that during the interview with the outgoing Treasurer and Senior Manager of Admin, the latter asked me, "In your opinion, is the auditor a bloodhound or a watchdog?" To which I replied, "A watchdog, because it is too onerous to expect the auditor to be like a bloodhound, sniffing out every exception and deviation." He did not seem convinced by my answer and retorted, "Sorry, but I think he should be a bloodhound".

When I left the room, I thought I had blown the interview -- but surprisingly, I was offered the job about 2 weeks later.

Anyway, internal audit is not exactly the most popular job. Colleagues tend to avoid you, because they have this impression that you are out to find fault with them, and record down the things that they have been doing wrong.

In my first meeting with the incoming Treasurer a month into my new job, he said to me, "Why did you join the Club? This is a dead-end job." Within the first six months there, one of my car tyres was punctured, and I was even called up by one of the committee members for a "lecture", which in retrospect was more like a "warning" to stay clear of the staff that reported to him.

I remember wanting to quit my job, but as I was concurrently pursuing an MBA specialising in IT at NTU, I held on, telling myself that this was only an interim job and upon getting the MBA, I would pursue a career in accounting software consulting.

But I am digressing...

As I mentioned earlier, the work of an internal auditor is an unenviable task. While he has to look out for areas of improvement, there is resistance from the auditees because the action items that he recommends actually reflect the lack of operational efficiency and/or effectiveness on the part of the auditees. If people can help it, they would rather not have anything to do with the auditor, and will avoid him at all costs. He is seen as a "necessary evil".

Is it any wonder then, that there are people in this world who are avoiding God? They have the impression that God is like an auditor, watching their every move, keeping a record of their wrongdoings, waiting for an opportunity to expose their every mistake and shortcoming. Rather than be subject to an audit, they rather stay away from God.

But is God really like that? Is He like a watchdog and bloodhound?

God the Father and God the Son have been together from time immemorial, so Jesus should know the Father intimately. How did Jesus describe the characteristics of God the Father in Luke 15? As one who stood aloofly with a stern look on his face and a super-long list in his hand of the bad things his wayward son had done?

If you were to look at an audit report, you will inevitably find shortcomings being recorded, because that is the main purpose of an audit. For example, the Auditor-General recently released a report about the National Library Board, where millions of dollars of fines were found to remain uncollected.

If God were an auditor, He would not last one day on the job. Take Hebrews 11 for example. Here we see a report of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, et al being described as great men of faith. If such a glowing report was submitted to an Audit Committee, it would have been thrown right out the window!

We know from the Old Testament that these men had their own shortcomings. Noah was a drunkard. Abraham was a coward. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer.

Yet not a single one of those mistakes were mentioned in Heb 11. Why? Because Jesus paid the price for all those mistakes.

And my friends, Jesus has paid the price for all our mistakes too. So, if you picture God as an auditor or hear a teaching that paints God as such, banish that in the mighty name of Jesus!

Instead, repent of that and picture Him as how Jesus painted Him, because Jesus knows the God the Father better than anyone of us humans, preachers included. He is the loving Father, sprinting towards you, embracing you, lavishing you with repeated kisses, putting His robes of righteousness on you, giving you His authority symbolised by the ring He puts on your finger, and the sandals He puts on your feet. Amen?