Chairman’s Message – January 11, 2012

Chairman’s Message — January 11, 2012

FSA Times Home Page

FSAB Chairman, Scott White

Happy New Year! As we begin 2012, we continue to learn more about a financial services industry scandal that emerged in the fourth quarter of 2011 at MF Global. If you think about the last several years and the number of these cases — Bernie Madoff, Alan Stanford, etc. — it is hard to imagine that in this age of increased awareness these types of scandals continue to happen. We should never doubt our auditor instincts. Personally, my gut feeling has served me well on several occasions. No matter how trivial or minor something may seem, or how much internal audit might be criticized for pointing it out, we have an obligation to be skeptical and to investigate circumstances that don’t add up until we are satisfied that nothing is wrong.

The Financial Services Auditors Advisory Board has been busy assisting in planning for the 2012 International Conference in Boston, July 9-11, 2012. The conference will include a financial services track covering topics such as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, model validation, and auditing derivatives. Additionally, there will be two pre-conference sessions on regulatory compliance and a financial services update with a panel of experts from each financial services sector. I encourage you to visit The IIA’s website for more details and take advantage of early registration opportunities. This is a great time of year to visit the Boston area. Not only will the conference be in a great location in the city, but also just a short drive away is Cape Cod to the east, the mountains to the north, or the beautiful Maine coast to the northeast. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at the conference.

The Board’s webinars subcommittee has been busy planning the lineup of members-only free webinars for 2012. Our series will kick off in February with a session on Auditing Executive Compensation and Benefits. Please stay tuned to The IIA’s website and your email for more information on this upcoming session. You can also hear free playback on previous webinars by visiting the FSA Web page (member login required). Take advantage of these informative sessions, which are an easy way to gain continuing education hours.

I would like to wish everyone the very best in 2012! The Board is looking forward to another productive year of serving our financial services constituents. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding our activities, please contact any Board member.

Warm regards,

Scott White, CIA, CFSA

Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message – October 26, 2011

FSA Times Home Page

Scott White, FSA Chairman

I hope everyone had a great summer. I’m not sure about you, but my summer seems to go by more quickly every year. As we head into fall, we have our eyes on yet another multi-billion dollar rogue trader fraud at Societe Generale. It will be interesting to read the details of that case as they become available. While no one likes to see any type of financial institution fraud, these incidents provide us with an incentive to do our jobs well and to maintain that healthy skepticism in our dealings with clients and constituents. It also tells me that internal auditing will continue to be a great career choice in the future as our importance to our organizations and clients continues to grow.

I hope you had a chance to participate in the free webinars offered in August, September, and earlier this week. If you missed any of them, as a Financial Services Auditor (FSA) Group member you can hear the free playback by going to the Financial Services Auditor’s Web page (member login required). Topics include:

• CyberSecurity in Today’s Financial Services World (available online Oct. 28).
• Regulatory Hot Topics for IT Auditing – How Technology Issues Affect Your IT Rating and Bank Regulators’ Views of Your Risk Management Practices.
• Using Data Analytics to Enhance Fraud Detection in Financial Services Audits.

Our thanks again go to FSA Board Member Ed Weiss, Protiviti, and the webinars subcommittee for producing these outstanding sessions. I also would remind you that these webinars are applicable to all financial services sectors and are a great way to earn some very cost-effective continuing professional education hours.

Your FSA Board has been busy working with the Regional Conference Committee to bring interesting and informative financial services sessions to you. We offered financial services-specific sessions at the well-attended Milwaukee Regional Conference in September and have a one-day, four session track at the sold-out Pittsburgh Regional Conference in November.

Looking ahead, the Board is working with the International Conference Planning Committee in preparation for the Boston International Conference in July 2012. We will be planning a full slate of financial services-related sessions so stay tuned to The IIA’s website for more information.

Finally, I would like to welcome new member Richard Serafini, a partner in Deloitte’s Enterprise Risk Services practice, to the FSA Advisory Board. Dick has many years of financial services experience and we look forward to working with him. We also would like to welcome back former Board member David Bilko, chief audit officer at StellarOne.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding our activities, please contact any Board member.

Warm regards,

Scott White, CIA, CFSA

Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message – July 20, 2011

FSA Times Home Page

Scott White, FSAB Chairman

 

On June 16, the Financial Services Advisory Board (FSAB) presented “Consumer Protection Implications for Financial Services Auditors,” the second in a series of four compliance webinars in partnership with Protiviti. We’d like to thank Carol Beaumier, Michael Brauneis, and Steven Stachowicz for an excellent presentation. Our compliance series continues with webinars scheduled for August, September, and December and will include updates on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and other topics. These webinars are in direct response to suggestions by our membership for more cost effective and timely training. The Board is currently working on several other initiatives suggested by participants from our 2010 membership survey. Included will be an updated Web page, an opportunity to connect with other FSA Group members via LinkedIn, and an expanded FSA Times.

If you missed any of the presentations to date you can listen to a playback of any session online. Please watch your email or check the FSA Group page for details on our next webinar and other training opportunities. You must be logged in with your member number and password to access this area of the website.

The Board also has been working with the regional conference committees for the September Midwest Regional Conference in Milwaukee and the November Central Regional Conference in Pittsburgh to bring financial services-specific presentations to these events. Both of these conferences will feature, among other finance-oriented sessions, a panel discussion by leading financial services auditors on current topics, among other financial services-specific presentations.

We are actively searching for speakers and presenters for our webinars. If you have something to say, or have seen someone speak who you thought was interesting, please let us know. If you’re recommending someone, send us their contact information and we will gladly get in touch with them. The only requirement is that the topic be related to financial services.

The FSAB also is continuing to look for a few good men and women to join us. If you are interested in the financial services industry and want to give something back to your profession, please contact me regarding the requirements. As always, if you have any suggestions regarding our activities, please contact any Board member.

Warm regards,

Scott White, CIA, CFSA

Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message – April 13, 2011

Scott White, FSAB Chairman

FSA Times Home Page

The Financial Services Advisory Board (FSAB) has been busy collaborating with IIA chapters that are hosting regional and international conferences to develop and present financial services training programs. Currently, we are working with the conference organizers of the Midwestern Regional Conference (Milwaukee) and the Central Regional Conference (Pittsburgh) in 2011 to schedule financial services presentations, including a panel discussion of chief audit executives from various financial services organizations. Tentative plans are in place to work with the Southern Regional Conference (Austin) in 2012 and there are already plans for a financial services track at the June 2012 International Conference in Boston. Stay tuned for more developments in those areas.

As promised, the first of our compliance/regulatory webinars was offered at no cost to FSA members in early March. The Dodd-Frank Act: What Every Financial Services Chief Audit Executive Needs to Know was led by Carol Beaumier of Protiviti and was attended by more than 500 FSA group participants. Space was limited, so if you were unable to attend, you can listen to a playback of the session here. The FSAB continues to follow Dodd-Frank and will be updating developments in the webinar series and FSA Times. Please watch your e-mail or check the FSA Group page on The IIA’s website for details on our next webinar scheduled for June 16 and other training opportunities. You must be logged in with your member number and password to access this area of the website.

We are actively searching for speakers and presenters for our webinars, so if you are interested, or have seen someone speak who you thought was interesting, please let us know. If you’re recommending someone, send us the their contact information and we will gladly contact them. The only requirement is that the topic be related to financial services.

Finally, the FSAB is looking for a few good men and women to join us. If you are interested in the financial services industry and want to give something back to your profession, please contact me regarding the requirements. As always, if you have any suggestions regarding our activities, please contact any Board member.

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message – January 19, 2011

FSA Times Home Page

Scott White, Chairman

The holidays have passed and many of us are already into the busiest time of the year. The stock market somewhat rebounded at the end of 2010 and let’s hope the trend continues upward for the economy in general. It is a very interesting time in our industry and there is a lot of uncertainty ahead. Implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is going to present challenges for many of us moving forward. The Financial Services Advisory Board (FSAB) is keeping on top of developments and will continue looking for ways to educate and inform our members regarding Dodd-Frank. Also, stay tuned to Internal Auditor for feature stories regarding these important regulations and their impact on our profession.

The Board met in December and put together plans for several exciting new initiatives.  I’m pleased to announce that starting with this issue, “Compliance Corner” will be a regular feature of FSA Times. “Compliance Corner” is being written by the professional compliance staff of Protiviti and should offer insights and new information on various important compliance topics each quarter. This is in response to the many requests we received from our membership for additional compliance information.

We are also working on developing a series of webinars that will offer financial services members timely information in a cost effective manner. We should have more information available soon. Finally, from all of the Board members, best wishes for a happy, healthy, and profitable new year. As always, feel free to communicate with any of us regarding your suggestions and concerns.

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message – October 20, 2010

FSA Times Home Page

On behalf of the Financial Services Advisory Board, I want to thank all who took the time to complete the recent survey regarding your membership with the Financial Services Specialty Group. We received some excellent feedback and suggestions from our members and met in early September to evaluate the results and develop an action plan to address your needs.

There were three major themes that emerged from the survey.

• Communication. Members want better communication regarding their benefits, better access to, and more content on, the Financial Services Auditors (FSA) Web page, and improvements to FSA Times to make the publication more timely and informative.
• Training. Many of you expressed a need for new training resources such as webinars and online seminars and to increase audit program resources available to members.
• CFSA certification. Many commented on the need for better promotion of the exam and its benefits.

We will be working over the next few months to establish some long-term strategies to address your concerns. We will keep you updated by e-mail and the FSA Times newsletter as plans develop.

As always, if you have any additional comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any other Board member.

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message – July 14, 2010

FSA Times Home Page

Last month’s IIA International Conference in Atlanta was a great success. As we announced previously, the Financial Services Auditors (FSA) group combined forces with the Atlanta Conference Committee on a financial services virtual track in lieu of holding our own separate conference as we have done previously. For any of you who went to the conference, the Financial Services Auditors Board (FSAB) and I are interested in your feedback on the sessions you attended (including the FSA preconference sessions on Sunday) and the idea of combining conferences in the future. Please contact me with your feedback and ideas.

Regarding feedback, FSA Group members will have the opportunity to participate in a survey that will be arriving via e-mail within the next 30 days. It is very important to the Board that we receive your feedback regarding the future of this specialty group as we will use it to develop a strategic plan for the future. So, if there is some event or program that you particularly enjoyed or something else that you would like to see, we would like to hear about it. Please don’t miss this opportunity to be heard. The more suggestions you provide, the better. The Board will be examining the results of the survey at our September meeting.

Lastly, the FSA Times editorial staff strives to make this an interesting and useful publication. In that regard, if you have ever thought about writing an article and have something to say, FSA Times needs you to write. We are looking for articles on all types of topics with regard to financial services, especially articles from you, the internal audit practitioner. Please contact Shannon Steffee at The IIA for more details.

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message, April 14, 2010

FSA Times Home Page

I hope each of you had a chance to review the program information for The IIA’s International Conference taking place June 6–9 in Atlanta, Ga. As I’ve discussed previously, your Financial Services Auditors Board (FSAB) decided to merge the 2010 Financial Services Conference with the International Conference, which is effective this year only. The FSAB will be considering a number of options for future conferences and will announce our plans later this year.

The Atlanta Conference Committee has outdone itself in planning this year’s conference program. There will be a full slate of financial services-oriented sessions for conference attendees who can opt to attend a financial services-oriented session during each concurrent session.

Additionally, the FSAB is sponsoring a special pre-conference afternoon session on Sunday for financial services auditors at no additional charge. The session will feature well-known fraud expert Allan Bachman of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners who will speak on the recent rash of Ponzi schemes. Bachman will examine how and why these schemes happened and what we can do to prevent them in the future. The second Sunday afternoon session will feature Mike Thomas of Crowe Horwath who will discuss financial institution fraud red flags including cyber frauds and privacy issues. During this session, you will understand the various trends and types of fraud being committed against financial institutions, learn how to identify fraud red flags, hear about actual frauds that have been committed against financial institutions, and discuss best-practice solutions to prevent the frauds presented.

The Atlanta Conference Committee also has added Harry Markopolos to the lineup of general session speakers. Markopolos is a former securities industry executive turned independent financial fraud investigator and is responsible for bringing down Bernard Madoff and exposing one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. You won’t want to miss an opportunity to hear firsthand about the Madoff case. The IIA Bookstore will sponsor a book signing of Markopolos’ No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller. Check the conference schedule for more information about sessions and the book signing.

I hope that you will take advantage of this great financial services training opportunity in Atlanta. As always, if you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me or any member of the FSAB. I look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message, January 20, 2010

Greetings and happy new year to all of our financial services group members. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Your Financial Services Advisory Board was busy meeting face-to-face at the 2009 IIA Mid-year Committee meetings in Orlando, Fla., and working with the 2010 Atlanta International Conference Program Committee.

As you may recall, we announced in the last issue of FSA Times that there would not be a separate Financial Services Conference in 2010. Instead, we are joining forces with the Atlanta International Conference by creating a virtual financial services track within the conference program on June 6–9. In other words, every concurrent session block at the International Conference will include a financial services session. This gives the financial services auditor attendee the option of attending a financial services session during each concurrent session or attending any of the other sessions being presented. This means that the International Conference will have many concurrent sessions relevant to financial services, including an audit director panel discussion on current topics facing the industry. Check the conference brochure or information on the conference Web site for more details.

As a benefit to financial services auditors attending the conference, the Financial Services Advisory Board is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring a free program on Sunday afternoon June 6. The program will feature Alan Bachman of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, an expert on financial services fraud such as Ponzi schemes. Bachman will discuss the rash of recent Ponzi schemes in the United States, including the Bernard Madoff case. During the second part of the program, David Koch, the Inspector General for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is tentatively scheduled to speak about his investigation of what went wrong at the SEC regarding the Madoff case. This promises to be an interesting and entertaining afternoon of information and discussion about the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Watch for additional information about this special presentation in your e-mail inbox and take advantage of the early-bird registration before Jan. 31 to secure your spot at the session. We hope to see you in Atlanta.

Lastly, your board is interested in what you think and will be sending out a survey to all of our financial services group members within the next two months. Please watch for this and take a few minutes to give us your feedback — it’s very important for us to know what you think and expect from us. As always, please do not hesitate to give us your suggestions by contacting me or any of the board members.

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman

Chairman’s Message, October 21, 2009

First, I would like to announce that Chris Cheesman, chief audit officer at AllianceBernstein, has joined your Financial Services Advisory Board. We are very happy to have Chris join us.

Many thanks to all of you who continue to support The IIA and the Financial Services Auditors Group during these difficult times in our industry. It looks like the economy has begun to rebound more strongly as we begin the fourth quarter. The market is picking up momentum, job losses have leveled off, and consumer confidence seems to be increasing. The health-care debate also rages on. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t know whom to believe. However, I know something has to be done about the issue. Let’s hope that the politicians in Washington finally put aside partisan politics and do something to solve the problem.

As you’ve no doubt read, the economic downturn has forced The IIA to cut more than 40 staff positions during the past year. As a result, The Institute has had to rethink many of its conference offerings going forward. The Institute asked us to reconsider our Financial Services Conference for 2010. After much thought and deliberation, the Financial Services Auditors Board has accepted a generous offer from the Atlanta International Conference Committee to join forces in 2010 and offer our Financial Services Group members a program as part of the 2010 International Conference to be held in Atlanta on June 6-9.

Joining forces solves the problem of a date conflict between our conference, which usually is held in June, and the 2010 International Conference, and helps the financial situation at The Institute. The preliminary plan is for a financial services virtual track to be created within the International Conference line-up. This means that a financial services session will be offered during every concurrent session at the conference. Conference attendees can attend all of the financial services sessions or any other sessions they choose, including any general session. We are also tentatively planning a special free pre-conference event for financial services auditors on Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned to future FSA Times issues for more information about that event. More information on the Atlanta International Conference is currently available at www.iia2010atl.org.

As always, your feedback and comments are always welcomed.

Warm regards,
Scott White, CIA, CFSA
Financial Services Advisory Board Chairman