Nov. 2014 Newsletter, Beach Cities Chapter, IIA
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NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER LUNCH MEETING
Please join us for lunch and an informative
presentation, and earn 1 CPE.
Topic: Proactive Approaches to Fraud Prevention and
Detection
Speaker: Robert G. Campbell, CIA, CFS, CRMA
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
Time: 11:30 am registration; 12:00 noon lunch and
introductions; 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm speaker
Cost:
IIA members: $35 (non-members $40, retirees
$30; students & unemployed active members
free). The Chapter encourages members to
bring guests. If you bring a non-member to our
meeting, we will pay for their 1st lunch.
RSVP & Info: Please RSVP by November 18, 2014 with
your meal preference (Beef, Chicken, Fish or
Vegetarian) to Kathryn Andrus at
kandrus@ducommun.com or (310) 513-7254.
Additional information – Please contact Sher Shah at
sshah@portla.org.
Meals are ordered based on your RSVP. No RSVP = no
meal. No-show RSVP’s without notice will be
responsible for meal cost reserved.
Location: Holiday Inn Harbor Gateway
19800 South Vermont Ave.
Torrance, CA 90502
(310) 781-9100
Driving Directions: Our meeting place is near the
intersection of I-405 and I-110. Parking is free at the
Holiday Inn.
 If you are coming north on I-405, take the Main St
exit, then go south (left) to Del Amo Blvd and west
(right) to Vermont Ave. At Vermont, turn north
(right) to the hotel, about one block.
 If you are coming south on I-110 take the 190th
St./405 exit and go west (right) to Vermont, then
south (left) about 2 blocks to the hotel.
 If you are coming south on I-405, take the Vermont
Ave. exit and go south on Vermont about 2 blocks to
the hotel.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Greetings everyone!
We had two successful events in
October, the first being the
breakfast meeting, held on October
8, 2014, at Elise’s Tea Room in Long
Beach and the second was the
lunch meeting at the Holiday Inn Gateway Hotel in
Torrance. Ken Ramaley presented Reputational Auditing
at the breakfast event, which was a really interesting
topic and often overlooked by most traditional auditing
firms and auditors. It gave the attendees an opportunity
to earn 1 hour of valuable CPE early in the morning and
still get to work at a reasonable hour. For those of you
who were able to take advantage of the breakfast
meeting, please let us know what you thought of the
event and where we can improve. Mike Beard from
Value Based Project Management LLC presented
Operational Auditing to our members at the Holiday Inn
Torrance on October 16, 2014. His takeaways, dealing
with Operational Audit approach, challenges and tactics
to succeed, continuous improvement tactics were well
received by the audience and insightful.
On a personal note, I had the privilege of attending a 4day seminar on the Reid Technique of Interviewing and
Interrogation, at the Hilton Hotel in Anaheim this
month. This is one of the pre-eminent seminars on the
subject matter in the country and heavily attended by
law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local
levels as well as by internal auditors, who are called
upon to conduct interviews and interrogations as part
of their routine functions at their job sites. I would
highly recommend this seminar to those of you who
have the opportunity to attend this seminar in future.
Nov. 2014 Newsletter, Beach Cities Chapter, IIA
I am pleased to inform you that our chapter website has
been updated and encourage you to check out the
website periodically in order to stay current with
upcoming, planned events. We have planned a terrific
seminar dealing with Fraud Prevention and Detection
on Thursday, November 20, 2014 at the Holiday Inn
Torrance. The speaker details are available on the
chapter website and in the newsletter. We shall be dark
in December due to the holiday season, resuming our
seminars in January 2015.
The draft documents pertaining to our district’s bid for
the IIA Western Regional Conference have been
submitted by the District Representative and the
bidding committee. These along with other bids will be
reviewed. As more information becomes available, we
shall keep you posted.
Happy Halloween! Boo!
Thanks. -Sher Shah, President, IIA-Beach Cities Chapter
NOVEMBER LUNCH SPEAKER’S
BIOGRAPHY AND TOPIC
Robert G. Campbell began his service with Los Angeles
County on June 16, 1998 with the Auditor-Controller’s
Audit Division. He has served in a variety of
assignments, including as a Supervising Investigator in
the Office of County Investigations, as Assistant
Administrative Deputy, and as the Audit Chief. He is
currently the Acting Assistant Auditor-Controller over
the Office of County Investigations, the Accounting
Division, and the Shared Services Division. In this
capacity, he is responsible for overseeing investigations
of criminal and administrative misconduct within
County government, the Office of the Chief Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy
Officer, and the Children’s Group Home Ombudsman
Unit; accounting control of all County financial
transactions, preparing the Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report, preparation of the Countywide Cost
Allocation Plan, and maintaining control over personal
and real property owned by the County; and for
providing accounts payable, accounts receivable,
procurement, payroll, and grant accounting services to
a total of 18 client departments, comprised of more
than 8,000 employees. Mr. Campbell is a Certified
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Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Specialist, and
holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting from
Loyola Marymount University, and a Certification in Risk
Management Assurance (CRMA) from the Institute of
Internal Auditors.
Proactive Approaches to Fraud Prevention and
Detection –
Investigating occupational fraud, waste and abuse has
traditionally been a reactive effort – following up on
allegations and incidents of misconduct after they have
been reported to a hotline or discovered in the course
of business, identifying the perpetrators, and making
recommendations to management for corrective
action. While audits may test for the existence of
preventive and detective controls, they are not
designed to detect fraud, and do not actively test the
integrity or policy compliance of individual employees,
contractors and vendors.
Recent cases in Los Angeles County have shown us that
a more proactive approach can yield significant
benefits, and identify previously undetected fraudulent
activity. This presentation will discuss some proactive
strategies for testing policy and integrity compliance
within your organization, before fraud is reported or is
known to have occurred, and case studies from Los
Angeles County’s experience with this model. We will
also discuss examples of programs, functions and
operations that are most conducive to a proactive fraud
prevention and detection program.
STUDENT NIGHT 2015
The purpose of Student Night is to provide a service to
students in the South Bay region, to inform and educate
them about the possibilities that exist to them should
they choose to join the accounting and auditing
profession. Additionally, it is hoped that the students
get an opportunity to interact with recruiters from a
myriad of companies and provide a win-win opportunity
for both recruiters and students in providing
employment opportunities that may exist in recruiting
organizations for the most suitable candidates.
Any organization interested in participating in Student
Night 2015 and/or any questions, please contact Nadia
Nov. 2014 Newsletter, Beach Cities Chapter, IIA
Valencia at nvalencia@usautoparts.com or by phone at
(323) 252-6306 or Sher Shah at sshah@portla.org or by
phone at (310) 732-3019.
This meeting will be held Thursday, April 16th at the
Reef Restaurant, in Long Beach. Additional details to
come.
CERTIFIED INTERNAL AUDITOR
(CIA) EXAM REVIEW COURSE
Ronald LaPlante, CIA, CFSA, CPA, CMA, CFE, CFM has
returned to the Los Angeles area and is open to holding
a live CIA review course. Dates and details to come.
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
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identify your weak areas so you know where to focus
your efforts and GUARANTEES that you will pass each
exam part the first time. Our goal is that you achieve
success while minimizing your frustration, cost, and
time.
As a member of the chapter, you are eligible for 20% off
all Gleim's CIA Review materials, as well as Gleim CPE.
To take advantage of the reduced prices, please contact
our chapter representative, Melissa Leonard.
By phone: (800) 874-5346, Ext. 131
By email: melissa.leonard@gleim.com
By fax: (888) 375-6940, attn: Melissa Leonard
Visit gleim.com/cia for more information on the CIA
Exam or how Gleim can help you pass.
None at this time
CALENDAR CORNER
November 20, 2014: Lunch meeting at Holiday Inn
Harbor Gateway, Robert Campbell – “Proactive
Approaches to Fraud Prevention and Detection”
December 2014: No lunch meeting
January 22, 2015: Lunch meeting at Holiday Inn Harbor
Gateway -TBD
February 19, 2015: Lunch meeting at Holiday Inn Harbor
Gateway –TBD
March 9-11, 2015: 2015 General Audit Management
Conference in Las Vegas, NV
March 19, 2015: All-Day Seminar at Toyota, Torrance
Campus
April 16, 2015: Student Night at the Reef Restaurant,
Long Beach
May 21, 2015: Lunch meeting at Holiday Inn Harbor
Gateway -TBD
July 6-9, 2015: 2015 IIA International Conference in
Vancouver, BC, Canada
IIA’S CIA LEARNING SYSTEM
See www.learncia.com/chapters for special member
discount pricing.
Place Your ADS for JOBS
Ads are free to IIA members. Contact Jennifer Hannigan
(Boyer)
at
(949)
874-3244
or
JHannigan@AllianceResourceGroup.com or Damon
Melfi at (562) 570-7005 or damon.melfi@longbeach.gov
GLEIM REVIEW SYSTEM
Beach Cities Chapter has partnered with Gleim
Publications to ensure your success on the CIA exam!
Working together, we will provide you the necessary
study tools to prepare for this difficult exam.
Gleim has been preparing candidates for success with
their extensive self-study course for the CIA exam for
over 30 years! The Gleim Review System enables you to
Notice to all Recipients:
See our website at www.TheIIA.Org/BeachCities for
additional newsletter details. Please advise Jim Olds at
jolds@portla.org if your email address changes, or if
you no longer would like to receive these newsletters.
Nov. 2014 Newsletter, Beach Cities Chapter, IIA
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2014-2015 OFFICERS & CHAIRS
President:
Sher Shah, Port of Los Angeles
(310) 732-3019 WK
Email address: sshah@portla.org
Vice President:
Jim Olds, Port of Los Angeles
(310) 378-8916 HM
E-mail address: jolds@portla.org
Treasurer:
Pious Poozhikala, Port of Los Angeles
(310) 221-4759 WK
E-mail address: ppoozhikala@portla.org
Secretary:
Kristen Clement, Office of the City Auditor, Long Beach
(562) 570-5873 WK
Email address: kristen.a.clement@gmail.com
Membership Chair:
Jim Olds, Port of Los Angeles
(310) 378-8916 HM
E-mail address: jolds@portla.org
CAP Chair:
Mike Palmer, Northrop Grumman
Email address: mike.palmer@ngc.com
CIA Review/ Certifications Chair:
Jim Olds, Port of Los Angeles
(310) 378-8916 HM
E-mail address: jolds@portla.org
Programs Coordinator:
OPEN
Seminar Chair:
Jim Olds, Port of Los Angeles
(310) 378-8916 HM
E-mail address: jolds@portla.org
Reservations/Monthly Meetings:
Kathryn Andrus, Ducommun, Inc.
(310) 513-7254 WK
Email address: kandrus@ducommun.com
Nov. 2014 Newsletter, Beach Cities Chapter, IIA
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Email/Newsletter Distribution:
Kari Carroll, Alliance Resource Group
(949) 428-0601 WK
E-mail address: KCarroll@AllianceResourcegroup.com
Newsletter Editor:
Damon Melfi, Office of the City Auditor, Long Beach
(562) 570-7005 WK
Email address: damon.melfi@longbeach.gov
Academic Chair:
Nadia Valencia, US Autoparts, Inc.
(323) 252-6306 WK
Email address: nvalencia@usautoparts.com
Webmaster:
Mollie Carey, Toyota
(310) 468-6459 WK
Email address: mollie.carey@toyota.com
Auditor:
Mike Palmer, Northrop Grumman
Email address: mike.palmer@ngc.com
District Conference Chair:
Jean Miller
Email address: jean.c.miller@sbcglobal.net