How did you come to be in Internal Audit?

While I had a career plan mapped out from the time I left full-time education, as new opportunities were presented the map changed! It hadn’t included Internal Audit, which tended to be very transactional when I started training to be an accountant. Then as Internal Audit was becoming more professional new opportunities arose.

Before a career in Internal Audit, I grew up in family businesses. I was immersed in the car and leisure sectors as a trainee accountant, then moved to external audit and business services with KPMG. After a period in the public sector, and as a qualified chartered accountant, I jointly established an outsourced internal audit, risk management and assurance services partnership, Norfolk Audit Services. That led to risk and assurance director roles with FTSE companies in the UK and globally, four wonderful years with ACCA, followed by independent consultancy in strategy, GRC, NED roles, and, most recently, being a Trustee of a charity. In summary serendipitous rather than accidental!

What do you enjoy about being an internal auditor?

Almost every day is different, stimulating and challenging, with the prospect of meeting new people, and reviewing new systems and processes. It provides unlimited access to the organisation and enables seeing a business from every aspect. It brings a high level of responsibility, together with the satisfaction of being able to contribute to protecting value and influence an organisation’s success in delivering its objectives.