Imagine this … you’ve done everything right, prepared meticulously in audit planning and delivered an audit that’s so smooth it barely takes less than 5 day on-site at client’s factory

And then – you’re accused of “curi makan” (slacking off).

That’s exactly what happened to us, thanks to a client’s daughter who had Big 4 experience.

Here’s how our audit turned into a surprising lesson in perception.

It all started with the client’s management account file. We didn’t just open it and skim; we tore into it like a book with a mystery to solve.

Our PIC and his team took the lead, meticulously drafting a comprehensive audit plan. Once he have done, the plan came to the audit manager and me for review.

And yes, we dissected it further, questioning everything to ensure we hadn’t missed a single thing.

The PIC had to discuss these endless queries with the client’s daughter – not once, not twice, but countless times.

The back-and-forth emails and calls felt never-ending, each one bringing new layers of clarification.

After several days of this, we finally had an audit plan we were confident would address everything.

By the time we got the go-ahead to visit the client’s site, we’d already invested over more than one week in planning alone.

So, when we arrived at the factory, we were fully prepared to execute. Thanks to all the groundwork we’d laid, we managed to complete the on-site audit in just three days.

We thought this was a win – efficient, effective, and thorough.

But here’s the twist …

The client’s daughter was far from impressed.

She took one look at our three-day visit and concluded we’d taken shortcuts. “How could you finish in three days? You must have cut corners!”

She accused, despite our best efforts to explain that it was all due to the intensive audit planning.

In the end, she decided we didn’t “fit” and let us go the following year – all because of a three-day visit (aka she sacked us)

The irony?

This experience taught us a hard but unforgettable lesson: sometimes, you’ve got to look busy, spend more time at client’s premise?!?