The CIA

16/3/2013

The internal audit at Janssen is taken just as seriously, if not more seriously than our external audit. Due to some concerns expressed in the prior internal audit there was pressure on the Finance team to satisfactorily pass the audit without much noise and fuss so no doubt during the three week period the mountain of stress crept towards the sky and nearly exploded. In preparation for this audit from America I was in charge of compiling the majority of the internal documents required by the auditors prior to their arrival. This included compiling work from essentially everyone on the team: the management accountant manager, commercial analyst, the graduate, the senior financial accountant and so on. One of the things that I was acutely aware of when I was carrying out my task was that I, who basically knew next to nothing about the internal workings of Janssen, was constantly badgering (to a reasonable degree I hope) for the final products of my more senior colleagues. I was happy asking for a timeframe via email in which they thought they would able to complete their task by but when those deadlines were not met I had to try another form of communication i.e. paying a visit to their desks. However I was conflicted between getting my task done in time for the internal audit which meant that i had to give regular reminders and keep pestering people for work to be done which could have caused annoyance within the team but at the same time I felt it not so right for someone in my position to continually ask how they’re going with their work or how close they are to completing it, afterall they’re all busy people and I’d much prefer if no one was frustrated with me. In the end I decided that getting the job done was priority and that it is through maintaining good friendly relationships that people are willing to get the work done for you. So learning more about the other person, their circumstances and showing your appreciation for the work they have done for you is the key to getting people to help you I believe.

Fortunately we passed the internal audit quite successfully and in celebration there was a hearty company lunch at ‘Ribs and Rumps’ (and as luck would have it, it just happened to land on my uni day so I missed out and lunched with them in spirit instead). The other thing that i saw emerge from this is Janssen’s culture of encouragement and acknowledgement. For those that worked long and hard and sweated tears there were encore awards ranging from (bronze to platinum) each with their little monetary bonus. I found it a lovely gesture to recognize the people who willingly worked long after the sun had set and went out of their way to help others. So far that’s just one part of Janssen’s culture that I admire and believe to be a fantastic idea to motivate and encourage employees.