Powerful Insights

On our recent live global webinar, Lindsay Dart, Managing Director of Protiviti UK, and David Thomas, Vice President of Protiviti UK Managed Services, had a great chat with Protiviti brand ambassador and PGA Tour member, Matthew Fitzpatrick. Matt, a British golfer who just completed his first season on the tour, did exceptionally well qualifying for the 2020 FedEx Cup Playoffs and also advanced to the BMW Championship. His record for the year included five Top 10s and he impressively made the cut in 12 of his 15 starts.
In this conversation, Matt talks about his game, being a professional athlete during our lockdown, how he prepares for various tournaments, advice for amateur golfers, and why he decided to become a brand ambassador for Protiviti.
For more information, visit www.protiviti.com/golf .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

It’s common for companies expanding through acquisitions to outgrow their in-house capabilities. This is often the case with legal services during acquisitions, when company management might turn to their private equity firm for due diligence and other guidance.
Going forward, it’s not unusual for those companies to continue to work with the same outside counsel on other legal matters. The challenge here is that by continuing to contract with a large,
full-service law firm, companies may be paying for bandwidth and capabilities they no longer need.
Some larger private equity firms have addressed this concern with a variable cost, or “on demand,” model, especially for routine services. This “managed service” approach allows companies to bring in attorneys and legal experts and pay only for the time and talent they need – tax lawyers for tax issues, human resource lawyers for personnel challenges, etc.
By augmenting the in-house legal group with temporary staffing and subject-matter expertise,
companies can manage peaks and valleys without the expense of keeping a full-service law firm
on retainer, and reallocate the savings to other pressing needs. Hear more on this issue in our
podcast featuring Protiviti Managing Director Rob Gould and Robert Half Managing Director
Joel Wuesthoff.
For more information, visit www.protiviti.com/private-equity .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

Cybersecurity is a critical issue on all fronts. It’s certainly vital for organizations large and small around the world as they battle bad cyber actors and ransomware attacks, among the many threats. And as we learn in this podcast, it affects individual consumers and citizens every day, requiring them to be ever-vigilant.
In our latest episode of Powerful Insights, Protiviti Managing Director Michael Lyons, a leader with the firm’s Security and Privacy practice, shares great insights not only on the work he does for retail and telecommunications companies, but also about his recent personal experience with what could have been a costly phishing scam.
This is the latest podcast in our continuing series on Cybersecurity Awareness, which is intended to highlight ways organizations can be proactive in addressing critical security and privacy challenges. We explore how leaders can dynamically build cyber resilience while maximizing value. In this series, we talk with Protiviti’s cybersecurity leaders who are in the market working with organizations to address these challenges.
For more information, visit www.protiviti.com/security .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

It’s time for internal audit leaders and professionals to stand up and ride their own wave of transformation and innovation. But the results of the latest Next-Generation Internal Audit survey from Protiviti show that much progress still needs to be made in growing competency levels and next-generation auditing methodologies, in advancing innovation and transformation initiatives, and in communicating with audit committees.
This podcast features our conversation with Brian Christensen, Executive Vice President, Global Internal Audit for Protiviti. For several years, Brian and Protiviti have advocated for internal audit functions to adopt a next-generation internal audit mindset and embrace the wave of transformation and innovation underway in their organizations and the overall market. Little did we know that a global pandemic of historic proportions would alter the very foundations of business operations, practices and processes, as well as bring to light new views and ways for internal audit to perform its critical assurance and advisory work.
So much has changed in society and for businesses large and small during this transformative period. Efforts by organizations worldwide pivoting to remote workforces and transitioning operations on the fly have been well documented. Internal audit certainly has not been immune to the effects on their organizations, with audit plans shifting dramatically and assurance and compliance activities requiring multiple changes and adjustments to meet objectives and deadlines in this new status quo.
The pandemic has raised questions among CAEs and internal audit leaders about how they can best support management and their organizations in navigating the many changes underway. The foundation of next-generation internal auditing lies in principles such as agility, real-time risk and controls monitoring, dynamic risk assessment, and the effective leveraging of data and advanced technologies. The advantages a next-generation internal audit mindset and approach deliver have become further magnified during this global crisis.
To learn more, read Exploring the Next Generation of Internal Auditing, available at www.protiviti.com/IASurvey .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

Most discussions concerning the COVID-19 global pandemic aspire to a path leading to some form of normalcy – a “new normal.” That pathway is often framed in terms of phases, with each phase leading to an equilibrium of sorts. In other words, the state of equilibrium will be defined differently with each phase.
There is no roadmap for what is about to happen soon or next, but each iteration requiring a search for equilibrium results from changes in market and individual behavior, as well as adjustments in business processes to address those changes. That is why resiliency is the North Star that will guide the most successful companies forward.
Protiviti has published a two-part series on finding equilibrium in uncertain times. In this podcast, Protiviti Managing Directors Dolores Atallo and Jim DeLoach discuss key points from Part 2, “Resilience is the North Star.” Dolores is a leader with Protiviti’s Risk & Compliance and Enterprise Risk Management groups. Jim heads Protiviti’s Global Thought Leadership Program and is a member of the firm’s Global Solutions Leadership group.
To learn more, read Getting There Eventually: Finding Equilibrium in Uncertain Times – Resilience is the North Star, available at www.protiviti.com/bulletin .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

Chief audit executives and internal audit leaders are once again focusing on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work, which has taken on a new dynamic in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic. But these leaders and professionals are not the only ones immersed in this work. Chief financial officers (CFOs) and finance leaders and staff continue to perform numerous activities related to financial reporting and attestation work, all in the “new normal” business world in which companies are now operating.
Protiviti recently released the results of its 2020 Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Survey in a new report, SOX Compliance Amid a New Business Equilibrium. Our report and other materials and insights can be found at www.protiviti.com/SOXSurvey . This episode features our conversation with Protiviti Managing Directors Christopher Wright and Charles Soranno, who offer a CFO and finance perspective on Protiviti’s 2020 SOX Compliance Survey results. They provide some interesting insights on how the work and focus of compliance programs and activities are changing in the wake of COVID-19.
Wright is the global leader of Protiviti’s Business Performance Improvement solution group. Soranno is a leader in the firm’s BPI group and its Financial Reporting Remediation and Compliance practice.
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

Chief audit executives and internal audit leaders are once again focusing on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work, which has taken on a new dynamic in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic. But these leaders and professionals are not the only ones immersed in this work. Chief financial officers (CFOs) and finance leaders and staff continue to perform numerous activities related to financial reporting and attestation work, all in the “new normal” business world in which companies are now operating.
Protiviti recently released the results of its 2020 Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Survey in a new report, SOX Compliance Amid a New Business Equilibrium. Our report and other materials and insights can be found at www.protiviti.com/SOXSurvey . This episode features our conversation with Protiviti Managing Directors Christopher Wright and Charles Soranno, who offer a CFO and finance perspective on Protiviti’s 2020 SOX Compliance Survey results. They provide some interesting insights on how the work and focus of compliance programs and activities are changing in the wake of COVID-19.
Wright is the global leader of Protiviti’s Business Performance Improvement solution group. Soranno is a leader in the firm’s BPI group and its Financial Reporting Remediation and Compliance practice.
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

The world has changed. But SOX work goes on.
Organizations required to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act no doubt are experiencing this sentiment firsthand in recent weeks. The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused seismic shifts in companies of all sizes. The impact worldwide has been well-documented and will continue to evolve not only for the remainder of 2020, but certainly in the years to come as organizations transition to the new equilibrium.
It is in this new environment that Protiviti has shared the results of its 2020 Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Survey. Protiviti conducted this year’s SOX Survey in the first quarter of 2020, before the full scope and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was realized. However, since the results largely reflect SOX programs and work performed in fiscal year 2019, the findings remain highly relevant. In addition, trends with regard to the use of automation and technology tools are illuminated even further in this crisis, with offices worldwide closed and a massive percentage of the workforce – likely more than at any time in history – working remotely.
In this episode, Brian Christensen, Executive Vice President, Global Internal Audit for Protiviti, talks about the major findings and takeaways from the latest SOX Survey.
To learn more, visit www.protiviti.com/SOXSurvey to read our report, SOX Compliance Amid a New Business Equilibrium.
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

Most discussions concerning the COVID-19 global pandemic aspire to a path leading to some form of normalcy – a “new normal.” That pathway is often framed in terms of phases, with each phase leading to an equilibrium of sorts. In other words, the state of equilibrium will be defined differently with each phase.
No one really knows how this transition is going to work, since there is no playbook for recovery from a pandemic that literally shuts down whole economies. Most likely, a state of equilibrium implies a different experience in which customer and consumer preferences, global supply chains, and the workplace are undeniably altered in ways requiring companies to refine their business models to remain relevant.
Protiviti has published a two-part series on finding equilibrium in uncertain times. In this podcast, Protiviti Managing Directors Dolores Atallo and Jim DeLoach discuss key points from Part 1, “Build on Your Strengths.” Dolores is a leader with Protiviti’s Risk & Compliance and Enterprise Risk Management groups. Jim heads Protiviti’s Global Thought Leadership Program and is a member of the firm’s Global Solutions Leadership group.
To learn more, read Getting There Eventually: Finding Equilibrium in Uncertain Times – Build on Your Strengths, available at www.protiviti.com/bulletin .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]

Protiviti has produced a series of podcasts on GRC programs and technologies in which we obtained perspectives from Protiviti leaders and subject-matter experts around the world on GRC drivers, innovations and challenges in their markets.
In this episode, we talked with Ivan Torres, a Director with Protiviti’s Technology Consulting group. Ivan, who is based in Mexico City, offers his views on GRC trends in Mexico and in the organizations he works with.
For more information, visit www.protiviti.com/GRC .
Transcriptions of Powerful Insights are available upon request from [email protected]