Maybe you've watched the crime solving TV program, "Lie to Me." I sometimes chuckle when I watch the lead character peering into the face of suspects as if he can see the truth in the pores of their skin! Yes, I know body language, expressions and gestures can betray the spoken word and there are experts that can discern these circumstances. For many of us, however, detecting unethical or criminal behavior is a little more difficult!
A partner in a CPA firm that attended one of my seminars related this story. The CPA was asked to submit a proposal to audit a larger non-profit organization in his community. The CPA arranged an initial meeting with the executive director to discuss the organization, its accounting and internal control systems and to obtain financial information. After the meeting, the CPA shared that he couldn't point to anything specific but had a bad feeling about the director. Recognizing this could be either his intuition or too much pizza for lunch, the CPA invited the director to play golf with his foursome Saturday. Upon completing the round, the CPA told the director he would not be submitting an audit proposal. His reason? The director cheated on his score on every hole of the golf course!
The CPA shared he had witnessed a character flaw in an individual that is often a symptom of a greater problem. About a year later the director's name appeared in newspaper headlines because he had embezzled funds from the non-profit organization! A good call I'd say!
I'm an old auditor and would be the last to say our best means of detecting unethical behavior is our intuition. But I would say that we honor our intuition far too little in our relationships with others. Unethical behavior is a fruit of a deeper root. The fruit is usually obvious if we pay attention!
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