The past few weeks have witnessed extensive media coverage of two subjects for which investors should have taken extensive note: (1) There are an increasing number of high-profile companies whose shareholders are expressing dismay over corporate governance practices, and (2) high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs) have been drawing extraordinary interest from excited investors. As I contemplate these two phenomena, I am struck by an interesting thought: Prospective shareholders do not scrutinize corporate governance nearly as often as shareholders who have lived with the governance of their companies over a longer period of time.

Internal auditors are ethical — right? After all, we think of ourselves as the “beacon of ethical light” in every organization. If you can’t trust the internal auditor, who can you trust? Yet, at the end of the day, we are also human. We are subject to the same pressures (culturally, politically, and organizationally) as everyone else in the enterprise. So, maybe we are vulnerable after all.

I admit that I am biased. As one who spent the majority of my audit career in the public sector, I strongly believe that government internal auditors play an invaluable role in protecting our interests. That’s why recent news reports regarding government auditors have been so deeply troubling to me.