Philosophy is not separate from audit. It is present whenever we question evidence, test an assumption or decide what a finding really means. From Socratic scepticism to Aristotle’s practical wisdom, philosophy helps auditors think clearly, challenge confidently and reach better judgements. Every audit, followed deeply enough, leads to first principles.

What can the Beatles teach internal audit?

More than we might expect.

In this forthcoming Phronesium conversation, Michelangelo Iossa joins Antonio C. Coppola to explore how integrity, professional care, resource management and competency shaped one of history’s most remarkable creative partnerships—and what auditors can learn from it.

Audit failures are often treated with the same familiar medicine: more training, another checklist and a reminder to follow the checklist. But the real causes may lie deeper—in workload, commercial pressure, weak accountability, poor supervision or reluctance to challenge. Root-cause analysis only works when it is willing to examine culture, incentives and behaviour, not merely the visible mistake

Audit quality is improving, but the old weaknesses remain: weak challenge, thin evidence and too much faith in process. The FRC’s 2026 review shows that better systems help, but they do not replace judgement. Policies do not audit. People do.

Perhaps the best life is not one in which we simply escape negotium, but one in which we transform it.

When we work on something we genuinely enjoy, curiosity replaces obligation and purpose replaces routine. The work still requires effort, but it no longer feels empty.

Sometimes freedom is not the absence of work.

It is doing work that no longer feels like the absence of life.

Good thinking is not one skill, but six. Inspired by Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, the Wisdom Honeycomb helps auditors separate facts, feelings, risks, benefits, ideas and process—before bringing them together into one better judgement.

Six faces. One decision. More influence than we realise.

Robert Cialdini identified six principles that quietly shape many of our choices. Like the faces of a cube, they may not all be visible at once—but they can still affect the decision.

Better decisions are not built on logic alone. They also depend on trust, empathy, communication and the ability to understand others. Drawing on Dale Carnegie’s timeless principles, this article explores how practical psychology can strengthen judgement, leadership and decision-making.

A short list of old books for a modern problem: how to decide well.

Aristotle called it phronesis — practical wisdom.

Because better decisions do not come from more information alone.

They come from better judgement.

A risk register does not manage risk.

It records it.

Risk is managed only when leaders use that information to make better decisions.

Bad governance rarely begins with fraud.

It begins with vagueness.

When everyone is responsible, nobody is responsible.

Standards tell us what to do.
Images help us remember why.

These fifteen iconic images represent the fifteen Global Internal Audit Principles.

Not as rules.

As reminders.

Phronesium.

The first element of better decisions.

In uncertain times, there is rarely a perfect answer.

The best leaders rely not only on knowledge, but on practical wisdom.

Every science has its elements. Internal auditing has its principles.

The Global Internal Audit Standards are built on 15 principles. They are the building blocks of effective internal auditing—and, ultimately, of better judgement.

That is the idea behind Phronesium.

Inspired by Aristotle's phronesis and imagined as a new element in the periodic table, Phronesium represents something every organisation depends on but cannot manufacture:

Good judgement.