Ahoj Reader

We’re working on our plans and goals for 2026.

And this is the one idea that matters to me the most when it comes to improving audit quality.

No theory. No slogans.

Just something that hit me hard and changed how I look at my work and my team.

So I wanted to share it with you — as I was sitting, thinking, and looking ahead to what’s next.

I gave up.

Not on audit. Not on the profession.

Power idea: I gave up the illusion that I can handle everything alone.

For a long time I believed that the quality of audit rests on my abilities.
My experience, my head, my issue-hunting skills.

Reality was different.

One day it hit me hard.

I was sitting over an audit report.
The fieldwork results were weak.
Not because there were no problems in the process.
But because my people didn’t see them.

And that was the wake-up call.

Power idea: My work and my career are fully dependent on how my people work.​
Not on what I know.

The junior saw an invoice.
The senior saw formal errors.
I saw commercial risk, overpricing, a possible fraud.

And I understood something simple:

If people in the field do not see what I see, findings will not be created.
And at the end of the audit, I cannot make up for it.

I stopped being angry at the result.
I started focusing on training.

Not a one-off workshop.
Not a slide deck in a meeting room.

Systematically.
Repeatedly.
Until the way of thinking changed.

When an organization learns, the types of mistakes change.
Old ones disappear, new ones appear.
If training stops, the line of findings stops as well.

The auditor in fieldwork is your eyes and ears.
How they ask questions.
When they ask.
Whether they even see what they should be looking at.

If there are seventy of them, they represent you seventy times.

And if they are not trained, you pay for it – with money, risk, reputation.

Today I know the point is not how “good a problem hunter” I am.
​Power idea: If I cannot transfer that skill to the team, nothing moves forward.

So yes – I have “given up” a few times.
I gave up the ego, the idea that I must see everything myself.

Power idea: And I started to build not perfect reports, but strong people.

Because the quality of audit is the quality of the team.
And the quality of the team is the result of training, not coincidence.

If today you feel that the results are not where they should be, that is okay.

Look at training.
Look at fieldwork.
Look at what your people actually see.

And then continue. Systematically. Without illusions.

​The most valuable advice my billionaire mentor ever gave me.​

Yours Oldo Oldřich Kovář auditOK, 25 Years of Lessons. Turned into One Audit Method. Learn, protect, and grow with our real-world findings library — practical insights that sharpen decisions and reduce risk.

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