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 Business Administration from the J.M. School of Accounting at the University of Greorgia, in Athens Georgia.  He is a CPA and has many notable publications and honors, including the Teaching Excellence Award from Bryan School in 2005.

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.