KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation named LSU Center for Internal Auditing spring graduates Rachel Bond and Julius Gloeckner first and second place recipients of the 2011 Esther R. Sawyer Scholarship Award, respectively, which was formally announced during the IIA’s 70th Annual International Conference held July 10-13, 2011.
The award is presented to individuals who are entering or enrolled in a graduate program in internal auditing or business at an IIA-endorsed internal audit program and have written a manuscript on a specified topic related to modern internal auditing.
Bond and Gloeckner received the award for their manuscripts submitted in March 2011 on the topic of “rotational programs.” These programs, implemented by organizations’ internal audit departments, allow business units to rotate through the internal audit function before moving up in a company. Additionally, the programs offer employees the opportunity to learn about every function of a business, similar to the way internal auditors must scrutinize details of a company.
As the first place award recipient and student in the Internal Auditing Education Partnership Program at LSU, Bond attended the conference and received $5,000 and a plaque of recognition to be displayed at the IIA headquarters in Altamonte Springs, Fla. She formally received the award during the morning session on the third day of the conference. LSU was also presented with a $3,000 grant to be used for either its IIA-endorsed program or the purchase of materials related to internal auditing.
Bond submitted the manuscript, “Internal Auditing ‘Rotational’ Programs: Opportunities for Internal Audit to Add Value,” which explores the origins and growth of rotational programs and evaluates their potential effect on organizations, participating individuals and the internal audit activity.
“[Chief Audit Executives] have looked to rotational programs into and out of internal audit to acquire the necessary knowledge and to enhance career development,” Bond wrote in her manuscript’s introduction. “In developing a comprehensive and well-designed rotational program, many organizations are using the internal audit activity as breeding grounds for management development and future leadership.”
Bond, a native of Baton Rouge, completed the LSUCIA program in 2009, and earned her bachelor’s in accounting with a concentration in internal auditing in the spring of 2010. She went on to get her master’s in accounting in 2011 and completed the Certified Internal Auditor exam, to be certified after obtaining the necessary work experience. As a student in the LSUCIA program, Bond received the Cynthia Cooper Professional Integrity Scholarship, served as a member on the IIA Academic Relations Committee, and was a student liaison representative on the IIA local Baton Rouge Chapter board.
While at LSU, Bond worked for two years as the internship coordinator for the LSUCIA. She also interned with Freddie Mac in McLean, Va., in 2009, and Deloitte & Touche LLP Enterprise Risk Services in New York in 2010, the company she accepted a full-time position with this year. Previously as the communications director for the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association for two years, Bond gained experience in accounting transaction processing and budget development and planning.
Gloeckner, also a student in the IAEP program, received the second place award of $1,000 for his manuscript titled “The Double-Edged Sword of Rotational Programs within Internal Auditing,” in which he explains that rotational programs may cause difficulty for auditors to continue a career in the profession of internal auditing.
“Because internal auditors are supposed to be objective and, to a certain degree, independent, rotating through internal auditing can cause biases and other problems for employees rotating in or out,” Gloeckner asserted regarding his paper. “My manuscript is about researching and evaluating these issues in regards to the internal audit function and to the organization as a whole.”
Gloeckner, a native of Germany, came to LSU as a freshman athlete in 2005, received his bachelor’s in finance in 2009, and graduated with honors from the M.B.A. program in May 2011.
As an intern, Gloeckner worked in internal auditing at Cleco Co. in Pineville, La., and in the enterprise risk services division at Deloitte & Touche in New York. While at LSU, he worked as a teaching assistant for the LSUCIA and was as a member of both the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Along with his academic accomplishments, Gloeckner managed to represent the university in three NCAA Swimming & Diving Division I championships, and he was named the 2009 SEC Swimming and Diving Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.
“It wasn’t easy for me to manage my time during the last semester of school,” Gloeckner said. “The Esther R. Sawyer research paper was definitely one of the projects that required the most hours of work and effort this year but was worth every minute. It has been a great learning experience, and I can only encourage other students to look for such opportunities.”
Gloeckner, who passed the CIA and CFE exams, also plans to move to New York in the fall to work for Deloitte.
The Esther R. Sawyer Scholarship Award was established in 2000, in memory of Esther R. Sawyer for her contribution to the internal audit profession. The Sawyer family funds the award through a generous contribution to The IIA Research Foundation. Although Esther Sawyer was not an internal auditor, her husband, Larry Sawyer, has long been recognized as the “father of modern internal auditing.” Esther was an avid proponent of internal audit curricula in colleges and universities and encouraged young people to consider pursuing a career in internal auditing.
For more information about the IIA Research Foundation, visit www.theiia.org/research.
The Center for Internal Auditing at LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business is a multidisciplinary program with students from over 30 different business and non-business majors that is considered the premier internal audit program in the world. The model for similar programs in other schools and countries, LSUCIA provides training to graduate and undergraduate students for developing an understanding about the internal auditing profession. For more information, visit www.bus.lsu.edu/cia or call 225-578-6221.
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