Happy March.  There is so much going on in March.  We kick things off on March 8th with International Women’s Day.  For many, it’s the month of Spring and Spring Break. And here in Austin, we have our annual SXSW Music Festival featuring artists from all over the world.  And of course, we can’t forget St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th), the vernal equinox (March 20), and many others.

And speaking of International Women’s Day.  Mary will be leading and moderating a panel discussion at the 2022 ACFE Women’s Summit in New York City on March 8th.  It’s a great honor and we are very excited and proud of her.

Here’s what is in this month’s newsletter:

• Serving Our Verracy Family
• Advancing Equality: International Women’s Day
• Organizational Culture: Culture & the World Around Us
• Not Your Regular Training – It’s a Bootcamp!
• Upcoming Trainings

SERVING OUR VERRACY FAMILY

This newsletter can be a lot of work.  Setting it up, writing articles, finding graphics, producing it.  A lot of work.  But if you, our community, find the articles interesting, informative and thought provoking it’s all worth it.

We’re committed to do this every month to serve all of you. But you can help.  Please share with us what you want to see.  Do you want more articles and opinions?  More insights about the internal audit practice?  Guest writers (aka, some of you?)  We can only make this better with your input.

Drop us a line and let us know.  If you have feedback for us, want to share your thoughts, or maybe submit an article, drop us an email at info@verracy.com.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Advancing Equality: International Women’s Day
By Mary Breslin, CIA, CFE, Founder of Verracy

I wrote this seven years ago, and I still mean every word.  I am proud to say the vow I made seven years ago I have continued to take seriously.  I am more involved in women’s advancement programs than ever before, but my goal now is not just to do more myself, but to inspire others as well.  If you are reading this it is likely because you are a frequent follower and I hope you take a moment to read my thoughts below (I hope they inspire you!) and that you join us for our Free Webinar Series this Friday March 4^th, 10 Lessons I Learned Becoming a Female Executive, where I will share what I have learned and some valuable career insights.  While my talk will certainly be focused on the women, I hope to see all our male colleagues too, as the career advice will be good for all.  Plus, it would be wonderful to see the gentlemen come out to support, and learn how to better support, their female colleagues.
Advancing Equality?  I Wish I had Done More.

Yesterday I read Adam Grant’s article “Why I Failed to Advocate for Women: Confessions of an Ignorant Man”

Read More

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Culture and the World Around Us
By Mary Breslin, CIA, CFE, Founder of Verracy

In the past two years, we have collectively seen a lot.  A global pandemic, Kobe Bryant, George Floyd,  Ahmaud Arbery, BLM, Boy Scouts bankruptcy, Facebook and Twitter algorithms, Wirecard, mass shootings, Solarwinds, vaccine wars, UFOs, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, RBG, murder hornets, Space Force, space race, Jeffrey Epstein, political divide, January 6th, GameStop, Robinhood, Texas winter storms, Suez Canal, cryptocurrency, NFTs, Surfside, [gasp for air] Colonial Pipeline, voting laws, redistricting, Olympics, countless sexual harassment cases, mental health, Afghanistan, PPP, CARES & unemployment fraud, Megan Markel and Prince Harry, housing crisis, pronouns, infrastructure bill, abortion laws, Peleton, Astroworld, Meta, Better.com, remote…everything, Zoom fatigue, climate change, and now Ukraine.  Whew! That feels like the sequel to Billy Joel’s, “We didn’t start the Fire”.

Cultural Norms and Right or Wrong
At the heart of most of these issues is often a conversation about right and wrong, even with mother nature there is a great divide over how much responsibility we have as a people for climate change and what we should do about it. Everyone’s perception of right and wrong is personal, but it is often largely driven by cultural norms and prior experiences. Societies are individualistic, like ours in the United States, where individual rights, beliefs and ideals take precedence.  Other societies are collectivistic, where harmony and the greater good take precedence over individuals. What is perceived as right or wrong will be quite different in those two different types of cultures.

Read More

NOT YOUR REGULAR TRAINING – IT’S A BOOTCAMP!

Brilliant with the Basics – Audit Fundamentals Bootcamp
April 25-29  |  10a-2p EDT
20 CPEs

Want to learn the fundamentals of internal audit?  Our Brilliant with the Basics Bootcamp is more than a training.  It’s more than a Zoom session with breakout discussions.  It’s an engaged learning experience.

Participants will learn how to perform an internal audit – from planning to report writing.  But more than just learning the “how”, participants will learn the “why”.  Participants will learn the process from planning, interviewing, engagement risk assessment, fieldwork and report writing. Throughout the course, the participant will learn the importance of credibility to evoke positive change and add value to their organization.  Finally, the course will wrap up with introductions to Success Skills – Root Cause Analysis, Engagement Project Management, Data Analytics and Fraud Basics.

Each day will consist of 4 hours of live instruction and interaction.  At the end of each live session, there will be homework assignments and exercises to complete for the next day.  You will also be asked to prepare for each day of live instruction with assigned readings, activities and pre-recorded videos introducing you to the daily topics.

If you are looking to sit back and passively watch your training, occasionally responding to questions and contributing to discussions and breakouts, this training is NOT for you!  Like a bootcamp, you will be expected to put in the effort and give 100%.

Have questions or want a discounted group rate, send an email to Training@verracy.com.

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Register Now

TRAINING

For the past seven years, we have been providing our monthly Free Webinar Series.  That’s a lot of webinars. We started off small; really small.  Mary’s goal was to get 15 people.  We got 16.  It was a HUGE success.  Today we get over a thousand people registered every month and about 80% show up (a lot of benchmarks say 40% is pretty good).  We are blessed.  Thank You!

Looking for Group Training?
If you learn something from our webinars and open enrollments and you think it would be valuable for your team to have a group training, contact us or pass this along to the individuals responsible for planning and scheduling training for your organization.  We do live, in-person and virtual trainings for organizations all over the world.

Check out our course catalog and send us an email.
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