Fort Belvoir, Va. –
David Slachta is a Supervisory Auditor with 13 years of experience at DCAA and over four years of experience in his current role. Reflecting on his journey as a supervisor, he shares some key information for those interested in the position.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a supervisory auditor?
There’s no eureka moment letting you know it’s time to be a supervisor, you have to trust yourself. That said, a good benchmark is successfully leading an audit where you guide the planning process, track the milestones and workloads of the team, find answers, and consistently coordinate assignment status updates to the supervisor.
Being a supervisor is a mindset. When you’re a supervisor, it’s not just about you anymore. You have the responsibility to guide your team, you’re directly responsible for the successes and shortcomings of your team. You can’t just walk out the door on leave and leave your team struggling, otherwise you’ll come back and find out you weren’t there when they needed you and now things are behind schedule.
How has your career as a supervisor changed since you first started?
I was fortunate when I first became a supervisor because I inherited a team of experienced auditors who knew what they were doing. However, over time my auditors got promoted and shifted in their careers, leaving new auditors to fill their place. This was a huge change for me and I had to adjust; blocking out large parts of my day to meet and help answer questions and work through audit processes became a regular part of my work. I truly believe this is the make-or-break point for being a supervisor, can you take auditors who do not know what they are doing and lead them through an audit, training them to grow into strong auditors who can advance in their careers?
How have you grown as a leader?
I’ve become much more comfortable with responsibility. When I was an auditor, I could go to my supervisor and ask them to make a decision. As a supervisor, you can get help from your manager, but it shouldn’t happen a lot. Regularly elevating decisions isn’t a good look as a supervisor since your job is to make decisions and accept responsibility for those choices. While you can, and should, still get advice and input from others, you have to be comfortable making the call. Keep your boss informed but let them decide on their own level of involvement. I view a big part of my job as keeping things off my boss’s desk and handling what I can at my level.
What is your favorite part about being a supervisor?
To steal a famous quote, “I love it when a plan comes together.” It’s a great feeling to comprehensively plan an audit, predict the roadblocks and then see it all come together (mostly) as you planned it. It’s a real confidence boost. The other answer is, of course, the people. Watching a great auditor strut their stuff with a working paper makes you feel like a proud parent. Of course, the flip side to that is also the worst part of being a supervisor, having those hard conversations and sour feelings with underperforming auditors. While it is difficult, those conversations are the most important. Hard honesty and transparent expectations go a long way and can really help guide things to a positive ending.