Risk and reward.

TO ERR IS HUMAN. I TELL MY HUSBAND THAT EVERY TIME I MAKE AN error in our checkbook. He's an accountant, so it's not easy for him to understand how I can be so bad with numbers. Thus, I often have to remind him that to forgive is divine.

I also gently remind him that I probably had a million other things on my mind when I was entering the numbers--the kids' baseball practices, doctors' appointments, homework assignments. At which time the accountant in him replies, "The risk of making a mistake rises with the number of distractions you face."

There are always other personal and professional issues that influence the decisions we make on any given day. Usually, we can manage these pressures and accomplish our tasks using our best judgment, but sometimes our "humanness" gets in the way and errors emerge. If you think about it, one of the reasons the internal audit profession exists is because we, as humans, don't always use our best judgment and sometimes make mistakes. Controls are put in place to manage our humanness. However, when those controls fail, the results can be catastrophic.

Such is the point of this month's cover story, "The Human Side of Risk" (see page 38). Author Russell Jackson looks at the role human error plays in financial reporting misstatements. According to experts interviewed for the article, something as simple as afternoon sleepiness or family distractions can prove too difficult to put aside during the workday and can result in mistaken judgment that can be material to the financial statement. Jackson and the auditors he interviewed say focusing on the human element of the risk of financial misstatements can be extremely helpful in uncovering financial statement exposures, and it offers the internal auditors who conduct the evaluations another chance to show their value.

One important way to keep employees focused and engaged in their work, and thus to diminish the opportunity for error, is to reward them when they do well. In the magazine industry in Florida, professionals are honored by The Florida Magazine Association (FMA), the largest state magazine association in the United States, at its annual conference in August. More than 900 entries were submitted for FMA's 2007 Charlie Awards contest, from 70 publications produced throughout the state. Winning entries were evaluated by judges from across the country who specialize in magazine publication. This year, Internal Auditor won nine awards for editorial and design excellence.

Thank you to all of the internal audit professionals who wrote for the magazine during the past year and to Yacinski Design, LLC, for continuing to provide excellent design work. We couldn't produce an award-winning publication without your significant contributions.