Beyond Awareness: Why Structural Changes, Not Just Training, Are Key to Overcoming Cognitive Biases in Governance

This article argues that common governance failures, such as anchoring bias in audit findings or attributing success to management skill, are not due to individual irrationality but rather to cognitive mechanisms operating in an unsuitable organizational environment. Drawing a parallel to optical illusions, the author posits that simply increasing awareness of biases (epistemic interventions) is insufficient because the distortions persist even when known. Instead, internal audit and assurance professionals should advocate for structural interventions that create parallel systems to counteract these inherent biases, ensuring more robust governance and decision-making.