Minor edits

Internal Auditor, Feb, 2004 by Joanne L. Hodges

THIS PAST YEAR, THE EDITORS OF INTERNAL AUDITOR CONDUCTED THE first magazine-specific survey since 1996. We sent the electronic questionnaire to a random selection of Internal Auditor readers from various facets of the profession and asked about personal preferences on article topics, magazine layout, industry perspectives, and professional habits. Although we were pleased by the responses, there were a few items of particular interest--ones that we've taken to heart already.

The loudest reader voice said to include articles on the continuing corporate governance debates and related issues on a more consistent basis. We've complied. In the first "Governance Perspectives" column, which begins on page 35, J. Graham Jocelyn, the former auditor general of The World Bank Group in Washington, D.C., and the current director of international services at UHY Advisers Inc., discusses the need to find balance among the internal audit function, the board of directors, and management. Norman Marks, vice president, internal audit, for Solectron Corp., a worldwide provider of electronics manufacturing services, has agreed to help define topics of interest and identify knowledgeable authors for future issues of this department. He's worked with the magazine in the past as editor of "Ask the Experts," and he's also written some of the more popular features we've published in recent years.

The other authors and editors who contribute to our pages are equally as noteworthy. Because our contributors' credentials were listed at the end of the feature, readers had to read the ending first to find out the authority with which the author spoke. Consequently, we've added each practitioner's credentials--degrees, certifications, title, and company name--to the byline on the article's opening page. In addition, we've collected the biographies of every author and grouped them on a new "Contributors" page at the beginning of the magazine (page 8). With one glance, you'll now see what a qualified group it is that defines the content of every issue.

Another common thread to the respondents' answers was the desire to see a little humor in the magazine. Anyone who's told a joke knows that humor is very subjective; it's a controversial area about which the editors regularly disagree. That said, we heard loud and clear that our readers were anxious to read about the lighter aspects of the profession. Mike Jacka's first column on the humorous side of internal auditing begins on page 57. Mike has a series of these articles that we'll be printing sporadically throughout the year. Let us know what you think, and, if you have an anecdote that you'd like us to consider, we want to hear that, too.

The other changes to the magazine come from the editors: We added The IIA's Web site to the cover to make it easy to find us online, increased the size of the author's photograph on the "In My Opinion" page to match the size of his or her opinion, and commissioned a new artist to illustrate the stories in the "Update" section.

We hope we've answered your concerns and requests. If not, when the next reader survey goes out, give us your two cents: We listen.