Professor Elam

Thursday Sept 12 2013

Diana Aquire and I attended the monthly meeting of SA internal Auditors yesterday.The program was a panel discussion of the relatonship between the internal auditors and the audit committee. It was a blue ribbon group with Internal Auditors from Nustar, HEB, USAA, and Frost Bank.

Diana took these notes from the panel comments. 

September 11, 2013

The panelists discussed the way their companies prepare for their Audit meetings, here is a brief observation summary:

Ignacio Fortuno, Director Internal Audit, HEB

-Private company

-Board of Directors is the family that owns the company

-Emphasized on the importance of a proper delivery of the Executive Summary

-Says we need research the backgrounds of our boss, in order to “speak the same language” 

 

Jeff Rowland, VP Internal Audit, USAA

-Public company

-Reports to 10 Boards

-Seeks Relevance when items are presented to the board

-Used the following quote by his boss “Audit relevant, audit right”

-Makes sure everything is factual in order to maintain credibility

-Adheres to Federal Regulations

 

Heather Sarra, Executive Director Internal Audit, Nu Star Energy

-Reports to two boards, 1 in town, 1 out of town

-Reports on High Risk issues to the audit committee

-Follows up on previous issues and points on when that issue was first brought to the board

-Allows the managers of their respective department to explain a situation if necessary on a voluntary basis in order to get their own perspective

 

Carol Severyn, SVP Internal Audit, Frost Bank

-Public company

-Uses rating system for items to be presented, Top 2 will go to the audit committee

-This will be the first year the have external QA, because they have so many other ways of control

-When managers of departments are asked to attend the meetings, they are consulted “coached” on the kind of questions they will receive and who will be in those meetings.

-Adheres to Federal Regulations

-Emphasized on the importance of accommodating to the needs of the boss

-Creates a relationship with the various departments in order to build trust & so they can be viewed and used as a resource.

 

 

When asked what characteristics are needed for a candidate to be chosen to work with them, they responded:

-Personality

-Driven

-Brings Value to the company

-Thirsty for knowledge! Asks questions of why or how things are done and seeks efficiency for the company

-IT savvy