Nejolla Korris: “It is encouraging that fraud is being taken seriously in Mauritius”

A much-sought-after speaker in the field of lie detection, the CEO of InterVeritas Intl. was in Mauritius recently at the initiative of the Institute of Internal Auditors Mauritius and the Mauritius Institute of Directors.

BUSINESSMAG.You have been teaching the lie detection methodology throughout the world to corporations, government agencies, law enforcement bodies and the military. What are your observations from the interactions you’ve had at these events?

Regarding fraud, for example, it doesn’t matter where we are. Every organisation, every country is susceptible to fraud. Some professions like internal audit are looked upon as being a primary area where we could create awareness and hopefully fight fraud within organisations. It’s encouraging that it’s being taken seriously in Mauritius, while the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has only been around since 2009.

In places like North America, it’s been around for much longer, and it has really set some international standards for people to work with but also to train in and to prevent areas like fraud. It’s very important for organisations like that to be recognised where they are. It should comfort management that an organisation like the IIA is working on things that have become global standards.

BUSINESSMAG.The IIA’s new global chairman of the board, Anton van Wyk, says internal auditors must build on the trust they have with stakeholders, and seek out better ways to add value. How could your field of expertise contribute to their professional development in that area?

There’s a lot of responsibilities placed on internal auditors and also, there’s sometimes mistrust of internal auditors. Leaders of organisations may or may not want to hear what the findings of the audit department are. That’s the fine line. Auditors are there to put that data together and then to share their findings with the management or the board, depending on the type of organisation.

It is incumbent upon the leadership of the organisation to instil what they are going to do, but this type of methodology helps internal auditors to become better and more efficient communicators. The more aware you are of how people communicate, how they deliver truthful and deceptive responses, the easier it is to deliver that crucial information and reporting to the upper management of any organisation.

BUSINESSMAG.Should issues like risk mitigation, compliance and good corporate governance be left to internal auditors alone?

Sometimes when I look at who is attending governance seminars, I see internal audit, human resources but is upper management engaged? It has to be a top-down scenario. I would love to see governance seminars put on where you have a cross-section of people from one corporation coming – upper management, legal, human resources and internal audit.

It’s only when you have a common voice and a common understanding through the levels of an organisation that you can best create things like corporate governance and risk management. Too often, I see these kinds of areas being dealt with in a segregated way, where corporations don’t always come together to talk about things, and I’m not sure that you can achieve it without having all the layers present.

BUSINESSMAG.How can lie detection make a difference within a business organisation? How can it help leaders make more informed decisions?

It goes into a lot of areas. People can become more effective in terms of hiring practices, for example in the way they conduct interviews and in finding a key and qualified candidate by asking the right questions and listening to the right responses. It is easier to hire the right person from the beginning than it is to try to rectify a mistake later.

It also allows for more aware or honest conversations happening. When we speak to one another, we tend to understand another person’s language based on our own logic. But that is not always what the true communication is from the other person. So it allows business leaders to become better communicators by understanding how people deflect information, therein taking the information more correctly and being able to lead by true listening.