ICAEW’s latest training film, Crossing the Line, covers many of the technical challenges facing the audit profession and, like its predecessor films, also brings out key ethical and cultural issues to provoke discussion and challenge mindsets.

It was the exploration of these ethical and behavioural aspects that initially interested the team at Just Audit. Having used previous ICAEW films for ethics training, they decided to use Crossing the Line as the basis for an ethics session at one of their team events.

“Crossing the Line is an excellent resource,” says Rachel Davis, Just Audit’s founder and Managing Director, and ICAEW Council member. “It sparked interesting and useful discussions within the team at all levels, from new starters up to RIs. I would highly recommend audit teams watch the film and have face-to-face discussions on the topics it raises.”

“I’m always struck by how engaging all the films are; how interesting they are and the kind of discussions they prompt,” adds David Fletcher, Associate Director at Just Audit. “They really bring things to life and engage the team in a way that other approaches wouldn't.”

Taking an ethical approach

Just Audit screened Crossing the Line during a half-day session at one of its regular in-person team events. These events take place two or three times a year and bring together all the firm’s professional audit staff, who normally work remotely in different parts of the UK.

Around 15 people attended the session, ranging from audit juniors and seniors to managers and RIs. “We also included a staff member whose role is to proofread sets of accounts,” David explains. “Even though she doesn’t do audit work, the ethical background is still extremely important.”

This session focused on the ethical issues raised in the film. A few months later, David and Rachel followed it up with a further session covering the technical aspects. ICAEW’s guide for facilitators, which accompanies the film, splits topics into three areas: ethical matters, technical aspects, and cultural and behavioural considerations. This structure made it easy to focus on ethics and behaviours for the initial event, before returning to the technical aspects for the later session.

“We watched each part, pausing at the end of each section to lead a group discussion,” explains David. “Rachel and I took turns facilitating, and some of our managers did parts as well. This helped to get the discussions going and encourage everyone to contribute and come up with ideas.

“It’s so useful to have everyone together in person,” he stresses. “I feel our approach worked well for our group and size of firm, where everyone knows each other and is comfortable to speak up.”

His main tip for facilitating the film is to watch it as many times as possible beforehand. “You need to find a way of taking in, and using, all the content,” he says, “and watching it more than once is the way to do that. It’s such a valuable tool, so you want to be able to use it to the maximum.”

Sparking ideas across the board

The issues raised in the film engaged the team at all levels. Two relatively new juniors attended the session, one of whom had started only days before. “Both contributed valuable insights, which was impressive and lovely to see,” says David. “Watching the issues play out on screen brings it all to life, and sparks ideas from right across the board.

“There were some great bits to pull out,” he notes. “The clients’ use of digital technology to blur the line between fact and fiction was very topical and something I don't think any of us have seen yet in reality, but it could happen, so it opened our eyes to the possibility. Generally, what we see in real life is more error than fraud, but that kind of wilful, fraudulent behaviour is something we have to be alert to.”

The depiction of interoffice personal relationships, and the associated risks and threats, was also a good conversation starter. “That was a useful topic to talk about in the context of ethical behaviour,” says David.

Another incident that resonated was where one of the characters admitted to having created and back-dated file notes. “We could tie that directly into our firm values and culture,” explains David. “We have a no-blame culture; everyone makes mistakes and it's how we fix them that matters. We're always encouraging people to be honest and transparent when they make mistakes, so we can all learn from it.”

He also highlights a scene where a partner has a critical conversation on a staircase via a mobile phone. “When you see those real-life things on screen,” he says, “you realise it's the sort of thing people so easily fall into the trap of doing when they’re really busy.”

The best training you can do

“One of the many advantages of these films,” stresses David, “is that you end up playing back little snippets in your mind in real life, which I don't think would happen, or not to the same degree, from watching a standard webinar or presentation. So, when you're doing your daily job, you might just remember a scene and think again.

“I'd thoroughly recommend Crossing the Line to any and every firm,” he concludes. “It's probably the best kind of training you can do. Such a huge amount of work goes into creating something like this and it’s so valuable; it would be a tragedy if it wasn’t fully utilised by all audit firms.”

Resources

• Find out more about Crossing the Line and watch the trailer
• Take a look behind the scenes with the film’s writer Duncan Wiggetts
• Check out more ICAEW films in our award-winning series
• How Crossing the Line is being used