Compliance Expert

Why don't IT and Accounting understand each other? Why is the IT project failure rate so high and what are some key ways that accounting can help IT? We delve into these questions and more in our interview with Karla Sasser about her new book,  FRIGGIN’ BEANCOUNTERS: Navigating the BS infested cubicles of the Accounting Department.   Karla Sasser is an accomplished Internal Auditor, CPA, CIA and new Author with more than 20 years’ experience in Information Technology and Accounting. Her areas of expertise include Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, corporate governance, enterprise risk services and IT auditing. Karla has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Information Technology.   For a copy of her book, visit, http://www.amazon.com/Friggin-Bean-Counters-Navigating-Accounting-ebook/dp/B00XRTNQL6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432924970&sr=1-1&keywords=friggin+bean+counter    

In this eye opening interview, Professor, Venkat Iyer, Ph.D., CPA, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro discusses his recent research on job satisfaction in the Internal Audit profession. Venkat specializes in organizational and behavioral issues in audit firms and the internal audit profession.  He began his career at UNCG’s Bryant School of Business and Economics in 1999 as an Assistant Professor.  He earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the J.M. School of Accounting at the University of Georgia, in Athens Georgia.  He is a CPA and has many notable publications and honors, including the Teaching Excellence Award from the Bryan School at UNCG in 2005.  He also received research grants from Big 4 Firms, such as KPMG, PWC, and the IIA Research Foundation.Venkat Iyer is Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Bryan School of Business and Finance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He began his career there in 1999 as an Assistant Professor.  He earned his Ph.D. in B

For 15 years, Laura has focused her law practice on small and mid-cap public companies, the OTC market, new IPOs, mergers and acquisitions and complex business transactions. She founded and hosts a regular show on LawCast.com and You Tube watched regularly by thousands across the U.S.  Prior to founding Legal & Compliance, Laura served as Chief Legal Counsel for a national investment banking firm and a NASDAQ broker dealer with over 200 employees. She is an honors graduate from Florida State University College of Law and has been practicing law over 22 years.  She is a supporter and of community organizations, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and is active the American, Florida and Palm Beach Bar Associations. 

Sandra Almo, Director of Internal Audit at Clean Energy, shares her insight about how to attract and retain top Internal Audit professionals.  Clean Energy is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America.  Sandra has nearly twenty years of experience in the Internal Audit field, serving as Assistant Internal Audit Director with Volt Information Services and Senior Manager with Ernst & Young.  Sandra holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from USC.

Learn about Corporate Governance, Board Selection Process and Interactions with Boards when Sonia Luna interviews Wiliam Judge.  Professor Judge is the E.V. Williams Professor of Strategic Leadership at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.  His areas of expertise are Corporate Governance, Strategy Implementation, and Organizational Innovation and change.  He has published over 100 articles and 3 books on these subjects, and has served as a consultant for business in all three areas.  In 2001, he was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in MGIMO University Moscow, Russia; and in 2013, he was a distinguished visiting scholar at Instituto d Industrial Engineering degree from Lehigh University, followed by MBA and PhD degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Bill is currently engaged in a nationwide study of the director selection process for U.S. board seats.   

In this interview with Jay Qatado, Director of Internal Audit at Calpine, we discuss how being an adviser, rather than an auditor can help an organization in the context of the new Revenue Recognition standard Jay is the Director of Internal Audit with Calpine Corporation based in Houston, Texas. Jay has an extensive background in Operations, Auditing and Shared Services. Prior to joining Calpine, he worked for Mobil Oil, KPMG, Hewlett Packard and Nabors Industries. He has held positions in Engineering, Procurement, Corporate Audit, Shared Services and as a Consultant.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin. He is a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified in Control Self-Assessment and a Certified Investment and Derivatives Auditor. Jay is a current member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) recently authored an article for the IIA titled Auditor or Adviser.

Get the academic perspective on Accounting and Internal Audit from Dr. Daniel Selby, Professor at University of Richmond's Robins School of Business. Dr. Selby is founder and CEO of Daniel Selby PLLC. He has over 25 years’ hands-on experience with Fortune 100 entities via corporate reporting, external auditing, internal auditing, regulatory compliance, and SOC/SSAE16 services. He is a Certified Public Accountant (licensed in multiple states) and Certified Information Systems Auditor with a master’s and PhD from Florida State University.  He is currently affiliated with the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business, where he has taught accounting information systems, financial and management accounting, auditing, and graduate IT auditing. His research on accounting, auditing, and information systems has been published in ISACA Journal, and other distinguished publications.

Discover what Certified Fraud Examiner, Joe Koenig, has to say about deception in Internal Auditing.  Joe retired from the Michigan State Police after 26 years and has 45 years of investigative experience in both the public and private sectors. He was lead investigator on the James R. Hoffa case, and investigated homicides, organized crime, financial crimes, narcotics, and public corruption. He is Past President of the Michigan FBI National Academy Associates. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), holds a BS in Accounting from Wayne State University, and a Masters in Public Administration from Eastern Michigan University where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He now owns a financial fraud investigations firm, called KMI Investigations, located in Western Michigan. He is the author of a new book entitled, Getting the Truth, which is available on Amazon.

In recent major headlines we’ve noticed a lot of bad PR surrounding cyber security. In this indepth interview, John Livingston, Senior IT Auditor at Medical Mutual, discusses what compliance professionals should do to stay on top of ever changing IT risks. John Livingston is a Senior IT Auditor at Medical Mutual. He has over 20 years’ experience in accounting, financial analysis, internal audit, enterprise risk management and IT operations. Previously, John worked for 8 years in IT operations for Rockwell Automation, a Fortune 500 company. He has extensive experience in designing, implementing and managing ITIL processes, including IT Change, Problem, Incident, and Configuration Management. John is a Certified Information System Auditor, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and holds certifications in ITIL and COBIT.

In this interview, we will cover the Five Attributes of an Effective ERM process and how to integrate ERM with the strategic goals of an organization and make it relevant to everyone. Linh Truong has over 20 years of audit experience is currently Director of Internal Audit at Kosmos Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company.  Prior to joining Kosmos Energy, Linh worked for Alon USA, Hunt Oil, Xerox, Credit Suisse Group and KPMG.  Her extensive audit career has provided her the opportunity to travel throughout the US, Canada, Europe as well as parts of Africa and the Middle East.    Linh has launched internal audit departments from ground zero and established first year SOX compliance programs as well as spearheaded an Enterprise Risk Management process for two companies. 

Allyson Bouldon is Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Chiquita Brands International. Chiquita is a leading international marketer and distributor of high-quality fresh food products including Chiquita® bananas and Fresh Express® salads, with over 21,000 employees on 6 continents. Prior to joining Chiquita, Allyson was Assistant General Counsel, Labor and Compliance for Mead Johnson Nutrition Company and also served as Vice President and General Counsel of Tegrant Corporation.  She is a graduate of The Law School at the University of Chicago and Dartmouth College. Ms. Bouldon is Past President of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Chicago Chapter, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an author, and speaker.   She will be a presenter at the Compliance & Ethics Institute Conference in Chicago, Sept. 14th-17th.  Her workshop is entitled: Don’t Let Culture Happen to You:  Understanding and Leveraging Your Culture for Ethics & Compliance Effectiveness. 

Anthony J Smith has 14 years of audit experience and currently leads the Audit and Compliance Department for Mitsubishi Electric Power Products.  He spent 9 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers Boston, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh an Internal Audit Services Manager, where he worked with various Fortune 500 companies on internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance engagements. In 2009 he was hired by Mitsubishi Electric Power Products to start up their Audit and Compliance Department.  Anthony is a Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania and recently authored an article entitled, “Requests for Information” which was published in the April 2014 issue of Internal Auditor magazine.  

Manny is Senior Vice President of Internal Audit at MoneyGram International. He has had the privilege of serving four Fortune 500 industrial companies and a leading global financial services organization during his 34-year career.   Manny has served as Vice President of Internal Audit at Commercial Metals Company, TRW Automotive and Navistar Corporation.  He also had an extensive career at Alcoa and led audit functions in Spain, Brazil, Great Britain, Italy, and China.  He serves on the Board of the Dallas Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors, where he leads the Chief Audit Executive programs.    Manny is a Certified Internal Auditor and has a Certification in Risk Management Assurance.  He also achieved a Lean/Six Sigma Black-Belt designation. Manny is the author of several publications, including his latest book, due out in September of this year on Amazon.com, entitled People-Centric Skills: Interpersonal Communication for Auditors and Business Professionals. 

With the New COSO Framework be sure to ask, who will be touching and handling your intellectual property?  Does your company outsource and does the outsourcing company have a confidentiality agreement?  Robert addresses these and other issues in this informative and compelling interview.  Robert is an Information Governance and e-records consultant, speaker, and noted author of the new book Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices.  It was just published last month. His other publications include, Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices and Technologies and Safeguarding Critical E-documents: Implementing a Program for Securing Confidential Information Assets.

In this unique interview, Bill shares with us some insights about  Unstructured Data and how unstructured data is linked to IT General controls for most organizations in light of the New COSO Framework.  Bill is COO and Managing Director of Consulting at TechLaw Solutions in Washington DC.  He is a C-level executive with 20+ years’ experience in professional services management, consulting and support services. He has extensive experience in information technology, corporate compliance and electronic discovery. He has performed technology, compliance and e-discovery consulting for Intel, KPMG, Nestlé, Microsoft, Philips Electronics and Pfizer. 

Sonia Luna Interviews Mike Jacka.  Mike Jacka is a speaker, trainer, author, and internal auditor who, upon retiring from a 30-year career in internal audit with Farmers Insurance, became Chief Creative Pilot for Flying Pig Auditing, Consulting, and Training Solutions (FPACTS).  An award-winning columnist, he is known for his work with Internal Auditor magazine including the blog “From the Mind of Mike Jacka” and the magazine’s lighter side pieces such as “Alice in Auditland”,  “Auditing Songs for the Holidays”, and "Auditors Anonymous".  He speaks on a wide ranging variety of topics including such areas as social media, reputation risk, creativity, and leadership.  He is co-author of Business Process Mapping:  Improving Customer Satisfaction (now in its second edition), Auditing Social Media: A Governance and Risk Guide, and The Marketing Strategy:  A Risk and Governance Guide to Building a Brand.  His latest book will be published in 2014, a collection of humor pieces titled Auditing Humor and Other Oxymoro

Norman is a CPA, CRMA and is the internationally branded “evangelist for better run business,” focusing on corporate governance, risk management, internal audit and enterprise performance. He is a member of the review boards of several audit and risk management publications (including the magazines of ISACA and the IIA), a frequent international speaker, the author of several award-winning articles, and a prolific blogger. Norman was the chief audit executive of major global corporations for twenty years ran the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 (SOX) programs and investigation units at several companies. His new book called “Management’s Guide to Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: Maximize Value Within Your Organization” has been described by readers as “the best Sarbanes-Oxley 404 guide for management” and can be purchased from the IIA and on Amazon.com. Norman's new book on SOX 404 and COSO 2013 Framework.  Delve into the latest SOX info as Norman Marks discusses his new book, Managements Guide to Sarbanes-Oxley Sect

Listen as Sonia Luna interviews professional trainer and coach, Dan Swanson on his latest book SWANSON on Internal Auditing: Raising the Bar and other compelling projects.  DanSwanson, is President of Dan Swanson and Associates, and has over thirty years of experience in Internal Audit, Information Security, Information Systems, Management Consulting, and Project Management. Dan has an extensive background in the financial services, healthcare and transportation sectors, as well as significant experience in auditing all levels of governmental agencies. He has completed audit and security related projects for more than thirty organizations including: the Canadian Air Force, Investors Group, World Bank, City of Winnipeg and many more… Dan has served as Managing Editor for the EDPACs Publication since 2006 (now in its 42nd year) and has been a Columnist, for New Perspectives on Healthcare Risk Management for nearly 6 years.    

The CEO and Founder of Aviva Spectrum, Sonia Luna interviews Sajay Rai, Founder and CEO of Securely Yours LLC   Sajay Rai has more than 30 years of experience in information technology, specializing in information security, business continuity, privacy, IT audit and information risk.  Mr. Rai is the Founder and CEO of Securely Yours LLC.  Securely Yours LLC is focused on delivering innovative solutions through delivery channels like Software-as-a-Service, Managed Services and traditional IT consulting.   Aviva Spectrum is the premier provider of Internal Audit, SOX compliance, and Risk Management Services in the West Coast. Our goal in creating long-term, strategic partnerships with our clients is to establish efficient internal controls systems simply and effectively that in turn build core strength and efficiency in your corporate structure.

Sonia Luna interviews David Feldman on his new book relating real life entrepreneurial experiences and how to apply best practices to your industry.