Origins of Man/Templates

As an articles clerk, I have spent many an hour mulling over my seeming cosmic insignificance. Upon one of these pondering journeys, I became alerted to the peculiar lack of auditing-history during my eight years of study as a CA in waiting. Doctors in training are taught about Alexander Flemming, credited with the discovery of penicillin, and lawyers spend hours studying important cases that have shaped their field. By contrast, never, in my entire degree or training programme has a single mention been made of the first accounting standard or the developments that resulted in the testing methods we take for granted.

Perhaps the sensitive, love-hate, relationship between auditors and their work is a pre-cursor to the desire for ignorance on behalf of the many practitioners. And that this ignorance of the historic origin of the profession is in fact a motivational desire to minimise cognitive dissonance with regards to the arbitrary nature of many auditing practises. And perhaps this rant is just be the result of my own self-loathing at not being a world changing scientist or life-saving doctor.

So, instead of this eternal mulling, I decided to embark on brief investigation of the subject. The result was the discovery that the auditing profession in its lucrative, present day, guardian of society role is a relatively modern development. Prior to the industrial revolution, and its separation of ownership and management, the demand for auditors was limited to a simple external review of accounts and mainly focused on government treasuries, as a fraud and theft deterrent.

It was only after the rapid industrialisation of the 19th century that the auditing profession in its modern guile began to take shape. A particular case, held in the late 19th century, commonly referred to as the ‘London and General Bank case’ is popularly credited with the introduction of the concept of haphazard testing, which translated, permits the auditor to employ sampling should it not be economically feasible to examine all transactions. Despite this form of testing being considered a limitation of the modern day audit, it has been a wonderful development in terms of understanding and concluding on seemingly incomprehensible entities.

In the following century, the concepts have remained the same. Sampling is still employed. And selections are made. However, development has taken place in the use of templates. Templates are tools, which remove individuality and introduce conformity into an area of the profession which is particularly subject to human error and therefore risk. But, where do these templates come from?

We know what they do, how to apply them, and that they are frequently updated. Sometimes, when the new template reduces testing requirements, the updates are applauded. And, at other times, when more strenuous documentation is required, we sneer. However, when I presented the question of their origin, to a number of my peers, I was met with a range of responses from blank stares to amused chuckles. But no answers, just a momentary pause; and then the resumption of the previously engaged regularly-performed, possibly template-assisted, task at hand.

In our modern, democratic society, championed for its willingness to question and prove, this willingness to follow appears as a contradiction. But, this modern society, is also one championed on convenience: Pieces of paper which prove our competence. Qualifications which define us. Professions, not accomplishments, which elevate our status.

And so it appears, that perhaps like the CA’s salary, the origin of the template is not a question for our closed-knit group of payslip chasers. Perhaps in this sub-society of ours, material pursuits and social interaction have replaced the need for introspection and discovery. Perhaps the natural human desire to create has been replaced by the sub-human desire to just be.

For, even if creativity is stifled, individuality is ignored and satisfaction is reduced to a carnal concept; the audit will go on. The schedules will be agreed and the invoices ticked. Exceptions will be reconciled and reported, and a new day will come.

But, what will come of us....?